The Amazing June Heat Wave of 2012

And we are in a part of the climate cycle normally associated with cooling temps!


The Amazing June Heat Wave of 2012. Part 1: The West and Plains June 23-27

One of the most intense heat waves in U.S. history has enveloped portions of the western plains and Midwest and has now spread eastward. All-time heat records have fallen at a number of significant weather stations. And it is still just June. Is this a prelude for the coming summer or just a flash in the pan?

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The only previous June heat waves in U.S. history that compare to the current one were those of 1934, 1936, and 1954. The summer of 1934 went on to be the warmest on record for the U.S. (74.6° June-August average) and July 1936 the single hottest month on record (77.4° average).

Ominously, some of the June records that have so far been set this month have eclipsed those of June 1934 and 1936 (1954 turned out be a summer of only slightly above long-term average normal temperature).



The Amazing June Heat Wave of 2012 Part 2: The Midwest and Southeast June 28-30

After scorching portions of the West and Plains early last week, the amazing heat wave of June 2012 slid eastward on Thursday, June 28, continuing to astonish us with more all-time heat records. Below is a summary of those.

There is no point in listing or even attempting to summarize all of the June monthly records set in the region from Missouri to Maryland and south to Georgia during the June 28-30 period. The 108° in St. Louis on June 28th was perhaps the most significant of those. What was truly astonishing was the number of all-time any month records that were broken or tied.

This is especially extraordinary since they have occurred in June rather than July or August when 95% of the previous all-time heat records have been set for this part of the country (unlike the Southwest where June is often the month that all-time heat extremes are recorded).

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There is no imminent conclusion to this heat wave. As the high-pressure ridge over the Southeast weakens, a new ridge is developing again over the Southwest and threatens to form a broad flat upper-level dome stretching from New Mexico to Georgia.