Northeastern Pennsylvania got its only taste of 90-degree weather back in April, when temperatures soared for four days breaking 90 twice, said National Weather Service meteorologist Erik Heden.
The temperature hasn’t hit 90 since, making for a cold summer – record-setting cold, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Climatic Data Center.
Pennsylvania and six other states had their coldest July in more than 100 years of recording keeping, according to the center’s preliminary analysis. The other states are Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and West Virginia, the center said.
The reason for the colder-than-normal temperatures stems from a dip in the jet stream for most of this summer, keeping the warm, moist air to the south and cooler temperatures to the north, Heden said.
The reason for the colder-than-normal temperatures stems from a dip in the jet stream for most of this summer, keeping the warm, moist air to the south and cooler temperatures to the north, Heden said.
Heden can’t speak officially on the region’s temperatures, because the temperature for two days this July weren’t recorded due to a mechanical error. But based on the recorded data, he felt comfortable saying July 2009 was among the top five.
On Monday, the temperatures got close to 90 degrees, but not quite, he said. The high temperature hit 88 degrees, making it the warmest day of the summer so far, Heden said.
Above normal temperatures should start to move in this weekend and into next week, as the jet stream lifts to the north, Heden said. The change should bring the summer-like temperatures that people have been missing, he said.
The eight- to 14-day outlook, however, has the pattern reversing back to the cooler pattern dominant most of the summer, Heden said.