This summer was definitely a hot and humid one here in the Tri-State. We saw many days above 90 degrees, with heat index values well above 100 degrees.
Do you remember back in July, when we had some of the highest heat indices that the area had seen in four years? You can thank the above-average humidity for those dangerous heat indices.
The National Weather Service office in Wilmington says that this summer, during the months of June, July and August, Cincinnati had its “highest average hourly dew point of any summer” since record keeping for this began in 1933. This broke the record that was previously set back in 1995.
So what does this mean? What is a dew point?
A dew point is a measurement that meteorologists use for how humid the air is. The higher the dew point, the more humid the air, and the more uncomfortable it is to be outside.
According to our scale, when dew points reach 60 degrees, you begin to notice the humidity, but it’s tolerable. By 65 degrees, you begin to feel uncomfortable outside in the humidity. When dew points surpass 70 degrees, the air becomes hard to deal with, and this causes our heat index values to surge.
For June, July and August of 2016, our average dew point temperature reached 66.7 degrees. This is the new record, breaking the old record of 66.6 degrees set back in 1995.
In July, we saw the 13th most humid day of any month when the dew point average was 75.3 degrees on the 25th. July 25 was also the ninth-most humid day of the month. July 2016 ended up being the seventh most humid month on record as well.
August 2016 is now the third most humid month on record of any month. This August was also the second most humid August on record!
More statistics from the National Weather Service show that there were 65 days with dew points above 70 degrees for the period of June through August, which is 71 percent of the three-month period. That ties for second place along with June through August of 1980! Incredible! The record is 69 days set back in 1943. Compare those numbers to the average of days from June through August of dew points above 70 degrees. That number is only 42.
So if you suspected that the humidity was out of control for most of the summer, you were correct. The high humidity combined with several heat waves made it a very hot and steamy summer this year, and one that will go down in the record books.
We saw five heat waves during that time as well. Heat indices easily reached 100 degrees. The highest heat index was 103 degrees on July 24. Hot indeed!
Fall is right around the corner. We officially move into Fall on Sept. 22, so cool weather lovers, we’ll see it here along with a major drop in humidity coming soon!
Stay cool!
