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heat wave is set to take hold of the area for the foreseeable future. The National Weather Service (NWS) officially defines a heat wave as three or more consecutive days with the temperature reaching or exceeding 90 degrees. At the time this article was written, NWS forecast high temperatures for Lowville are 90 degrees or above for Sunday through Friday. The normal high for this period is 77 degrees. So, how common are heat waves in Lewis County, or even 90 degree temperatures in general for that matter? We did A LOT of research today, using official temperature data from the Northeastern Regional Climate Center's (NRCC) Lowville, NY database, finding some interesting results. NRCC records for Lowville go back to 1893. We counted 30 or more official heat waves since records began, but you have to back to 1994 for the last official heat wave in Lowville, occurring June 17-19, with temperatures reaching 90 on the 17th and 91 on the 18th and 19th. We nearly had an official heat wave in 2005, between June 26 and June 29. The temperature reached 90 on June 26, but only 88 on June 27, returning to 91 on June 28 and 90 on June 29. In fact, the last time the temperature officially hit 90 or above in Lowville was July 20, 2013, when the high reached 90 degrees. The last time the official temperature hit 95 or more was August 15, 2002, when 96 degrees was recorded. Since records began in 1893, there have only been 40 days the official high temperature has reached or exceeded 95 degrees in Lowville (with 8 of the 40 occurring in 1933). The last time it reached 94, the forecast high for Sunday and Monday in Lowville, was on August 5, 2012. Since 1970, there have only been 6 days where the temperature in Lowville reached or exceeded 94 degrees, with 3 occurring in 1988 and 1 each in 1979, 2002, and 2012. The official all time record high temperature in Lowville is 100 degrees, recorded on July 2, 1931 Heat waves aren't all that uncommon in Lewis County historically, but interestingly enough appear to occur less frequently in the recent past. The longest heat waves in Lewis County both lasted 8 days. The first was July 4- 11, 1912, with high temperatures of 94, 92, 94, 90, 94, 95, 94 and 95 over the eight days. The second occurred from July 30-August 6, 1955, with highs reaching 90, 91, 93, 90, 94, 93, 95, and 93. Actually, 1955 holds the record for most days of temperatures at or exceeding 90 degrees, with 19. There were three heat waves that summer, occurring July 3-5, July 8-12, in addition to the July 30-August 6 mentioned above. There were 15 days of 90 degree or warmer temperatures in 1944, which similar to 1955, had 3 heat waves. They occurred August 2-4, August 9-11, and August 13-16. It nearly tied for longest heat wave, but the temperature only reached a high of 89 on August 12! Three heat waves also occurred in 1933, from June 26-30, July 21-23, and July 27-August 1. The high temperature was 95 or higher on 8 different days during the June 26-August 1 period. The last summer to have multiple heat waves occur was 1979, with highs 90 or above from July 13-15 and July 23-25. The latest heat wave of the season was from September 1-4, 1953, with highs reaching 90, 93, 95, and 92. Number of 90 degree or higher days for Lowville, NY, by month, since, 1893: May- 3 June- 70 July- 197 August- 121 September- 22 Total- 413 Number of 95 degree or higher days for Lowville, NY, by month, since 1893: June- 9 July- 22 August- 7 September- 2 For more information or to view more data, visit the Northeastern Regional Climate Center's website, which includes a very user-friendly database to search. Know the Signs of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke! |
| How Common Are 'Official' Heat Waves in Lewis County? 06/30/18 06:00pm By: Nick Altmire |
