July Was Hot But We May Never Know How Hot

JULY 2020 AND WHY WE MAY NEVER KNOW HOW HOT IT REALLY WAS AT ALBANY

A bit of a controversy developed in July regarding the temperature measurements coming out of Albany from the official climate data reporting site at the airport. The temperature sensor on the automated surface observation station (ASOS,) at the airport, operated by the FAA, was replaced on Friday, July 17, to correct a perceived slight warm bias that some in the local research community thought might be present. Unfortunately, the sensor that was installed appears to have been poorly calibrated, shown by handheld thermometers used by the technicians doing the installation and also confirmed by us at CBS6 using the weather instruments on the CBS6 Mobile Weather Authority powered by Mohawk Honda. Measurements indicate a new two to three degree cold bias in the new reporting sensor. Federal Meteorological Handbook No.1, Surface Weather Observations and Reports, Appendix C, lists the temperature sensor accuracy requirement for climate date reporting as 0.6 degrees C or approximately 1.1 degrees F. Therefore, the new sensor is not operating to specifications. The situation was not resolved by July 31 resulting in tainted data from the 17th-31st. It is possible, however, that the data will be corrected at a later time after review by the National Climatic Data Center after a new sensor is installed, which as of this writing has not yet occurred. So, with this in mind, here are the highlights for July 2020.

MONTH HIGHLIGHTS FOR ALBANY

Monthly Average Temperature: 75.9 Degrees (4.1 Degrees warmer than the 30 year average)

Average High Temperature: 86.3

Average Low Temperature: 65.5

Highest Temperature: 94 on the 9th

Lowest Temperature: 57 on the 29th and 31st

Monthly Rainfall: 3.57" (0.55" Below the thirty year average)

No Daily Records were set

Summary:
July 2020 was a hot month, although how hot, specifically at the Albany climate site, may never be known due to the bad temperature sensor that was installed on the 17th. However, despite the 2-3 degree cool bias in the temperature data through the second half of the month, July at Albany still finished much warmer than average. In fact, it's possible, when taking the cool bias in the temperature data, July 2020 could actually have landed in the top 10 for all time warmest. It's possible, if the data is reviewed and corrected by the National Climatic Data Center that the standing could change. It is interesting to note July 2020 was the warmest July on record at Poughkeepsie, with a monthly average temperature of 77.8 degrees.

There were seven days in July with a high temperature at Albany of 90 degrees or higher, with three additional days, the, 18th, 20th, and 26th, that likely would have been at least 90 degrees with a proper temperature sensor in place. This would bring the likely total of 90 degree or higher days in July to ten, which would have equaled how many typically occur in an entire season. There were no heat waves, however which are defined as periods with three or more consecutive days of 90 degree or higher heat.

There were no days in July with a high temperature lower than 80 degrees, with most day's mean temperatures above average, with the exception of the 17th, 29th, and 30th, which were exactly average, and the 28th, and 31st which were a little below average, keeping in mind all of these dates are affected by the poor temperature data. (It is likely that in reality, every day in July 2020 at Albany was warmer than average.)

On top of being hot, July was also a particularly humid month with all but three or four days with dewpoints into at least the lower 60s, with periods of oppressive humidity where the dewpoints climbed into the lower 70s.

The temperature departure graphic (the number of degrees a daily mean temperature was either above or below average) illustrates July's warmth with above to at times much above average temperatures prevalent, with the data again suspect from the 17th through the 31st.

July's warmth fits in with the longer term warming trend that's observed in the data with average July temperatures at Albany some 3.8 degrees warmer today than back in 1970, illustrated by the graph researched and created by our partners at Climate Central. There is of course a lot of variability from year to year as weather patterns govern whether we have a hot July or a cool one. But you can clearly see in the data that hot July years are getting gradually hotter over time where as cool July's are on average getting less and less cool.

For the year at Albany, every month, except for April, has come in warmer than average with significant warm departures in January, February, March, June, and July.

RAINFALL
Most of the region from the Hudson valley east in New York and throughout western New England went into moderate drought status in July, according to the Northeast Drought monitor, with the rest of the region considered abnormally dry. The rain that did fall in July was all convective in nature (scattered downpours and thunderstorms, which is normal for the time of the year) and although quite beneficial in the areas that got it, was not widespread enough to significantly impact the ongoing overall dry conditions.

Rainfall at Albany came in at 3.57" for the month which was just 0.55" below the thirty year mean. Other locations received more rain while some areas were largely missed throughout the month accounting for the highly localized and variable dryness conditions throughout the local area.

SEVERE WEATHER
There was only one organized severe weather event across the region in July, occurring on the 2nd when an organized multi-cell cluster of severe thunderstorms tracked from north to south down the Hudson valley during the afternoon producing severe wind gusts along its path. Click here to read a report on this event. Otherwise downpours and thunderstorms were generally randomly scattered across the region with little organization on the days that they occurred.