BWI ties record at 99 degrees
UPDATE, 4 P.M.: The 4 p.m. reading at BWI was 100 degrees, setting a new record high for Baltimore on a July 29. It was 103 downtown, with a Heat Index of 109 degrees. Ho hum... Heat Index this time last week was 120 degrees.
Earlier post resumes:
The temperature at BWI-Marshall Airport reached 99 degrees at 2 p.m. today, tying the Baltimore record for the date, set at the airport in 1954. The Heat Index was 105 degrees.
It was 101 degrees at the Maryland Science Center at 2 p.m. (Heat Index 108), and 99 degrees at The Sun's weather station, at Calvert and Centre streets.
It was 101 degrees at Reagan National, breaking the 99-degree record set there in 1993. Dulles International Airport reported 99 degrees, breaking the 97-degree record set there in 1993.
Categories: By the numbers, Heat waves
Comments
Why is that Baltimore-DC always has the hottest weather on the eastern seaboard? Its a tiny relatively northern area but every time I check the weather map, we're always the hottest. Sometimes we even outdo Death Valley.
What gives????
FR REPLIES: Good question. I noticed we were 7 degrees hotter today than Brownsville, TX. I'll see if I can find the answer.
NWS/STERLING REPLIES: DCA and BWI sometimes have the hottest temp in the East, as many other places do as well from time to time. DCA had 104 Friday, and BWI had 101 for a high temp. There were many other 100+ readings in the mid Atlantic and Carolinas, including a 104 in Raleigh, and several 102s and 103s. In this case, that area happened to be where a very hot lower part of the atmosphere coincided with west winds flowing over the Appalachians - a condition that further heats us by something called atmospheric compression.
* While Brownsville TX doesn't usually get the 100s due to their moderation by the Gulf of Mexico, they outdo us both in average temp this July, as well as average high temp this July.
* Death Valley CA is under a warming trend that will take them from a high of 106F Saturday, to 111F by Tuesday - a temperature we will not be seeing in our area.
While many stations in the country can take the title of hottest spot (the same is true for the East), there is nothing particularly exceptional about Washington or Baltimore. We are enduring this remarkably hot summer with much of the rest of the nation.
Posted by: Keith Gentile | July 29, 2011 3:24 PM
I would imagine the heat index for our area has to do with us being in the Chesapeake Valley Basin, which has high humidity.
FR REPLIES: Correct. Same goes for the Potomac area.
Posted by: Alysandir | July 29, 2011 4:37 PM