Climate Central - Record Heat & Drought In American West During September

[hatrack]

While September finally brought some relief from the unrelenting summer heat to the Central and Eastern parts of the U.S., the prevailing weather pattern helped set heat and dry weather records and gave rise to wildfires throughout the West. Death Valley, Calif., which is the country's hottest spot, set a record for the warmest September on record, with an average temperature of 96.3°F. That beat the old record of 95.7°F, which was set in 1915. Records for Death Valley date back to 1911.

At Needles, Calif., which is also located in the unforgiving Mojave Desert, the average monthly temperature of 91.3°F tied for the hottest September on record. In addition, Reno, Nev., had its warmest September since records began there in 1888.

The heat in the Southwest has continued into October. On Monday, the high temperature at Death Valley was a sizzling 113°F, which tied for the all-time October high temperature record at that location. That is also just 4 degrees shy of the all-time highest temperature recorded in the U.S. during the month of October, which was set at another Mojave Desert location in 1980.

The Pacific Northwest was extremely dry during August and September, which contributed to persistent wildfires in the region. Seattle, for example, had its driest August-to-September period on record. Bellingham, Wash., had no precipitation during September, breaking its record for the driest such month. Vancouver, Wash., had its driest July-to-September period on record, as did several locations in neighboring Oregon, including Portland.

EDIT

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/in-west-september-brought-record-heat-and-dry-weather-15076?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed

[FirstLight]

1. yep

In the high country, it was nice enough this week to swim in Lake Tahoe still... which is WAY uncommon in October. Usually the air and water temps drop by Sept...

While nights have been getting cold (36-38) it is still hitting 70s by midday. The squirrels and animals are doing their usual stashing and being quite exuberant about it...but I still wonder if this is going to be a 'bumper-crop snow season' or if it will be like last year...where you could see the ground for most of the winter... (usually we are buried by at least 3-4 feet all season)...