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July Was The Tenth Hottest Month In NYC History
By
Claire Lampen
Published Aug 20, 2019
Modified Aug 20, 2019
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Adam Saul/Flickr
By
Claire Lampen
Published Aug 20, 2019
Modified Aug 20, 2019
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You remember July, don't you? A month that opened on absolutely eviscerating temps and choking humidity that made you barf up your 100 hot dogs? Remember how, from there, we were plunged into literal darkness after too many New Yorkers scrambled to refrigerate themselves and accidentally overloaded the power grid? (Con Edison officially blamed a malfunctioning relay system, a situation probably not helped by one zillion AC units blasting as one, plus Con Ed reportedly left its extreme heat contingency plan to chance.) And how, from that hell, we barreled into our first heat wave of 2019, a scorching rollercoaster that rocketed us up to 113 degrees and then dropped us back down to the mid-80s? The air still felt uncomfortably viscous on the other side, as a mini-heat wave dragged July to its soggy conclusion. And now here we are, with the receipts to prove it: July really was a deranged inferno, just as you suspected. And due to our present climate crisis, that probably shouldn't surprise any of us.
In the National Weather Service's 150 years of monitoring temperature data from Central Park, last month clocked in as the city's 10th hottest July on record, with an average temperature of 79.6 degrees. Further, 26 of 31 days came in above that average, which itself is 3.1 degrees hotter than July in NYC should be. And! Not to pile on or anything, but four of these 10 record-holding hot Julys have occurred since 2010, indicating that the Earth's atmosphere continues to warm at an alarming rate. Worldwide, July turned out to be the hottest month ever recorded. Yes, correct: ever.
In late June, following consecutive protests demanding action from the City Council, New York City declared a "climate emergency," the largest city on the planet to do so. On its own, the designation doesn't necessarily guarantee practical action, but advocates hope that—necessary policy changes aside—the sense of urgency will alert people to the fact that, as one young activist put it to the NY Times, "the world is dying."
And yes, heat waves will only continue to get longer, stronger, and more frequent the farther we spiral into the climate crisis. That's before the sea takes us, of course. And if you doubt that forecast, just cast your mind quickly back to July and the deluge that drowned Brooklyn for a preview of what's to come.
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climate change
climate crisis
hot
july
summer 2019
the weather
weather
Claire Lampen
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