USA Sweats Through Hottest Summer Nights In History

The fifth hottest summer on record is in its dog days. The summer of 2016 had an average low temperature of 60.8 degrees Fahrenheit, making the nights the hottest on record.

According to USA Today, data released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on September 8 noted that 2016 tied with 2006 as the fifth hottest summer since record-keeping began in 1895. 1934, 1936, 2011, and 2012 were the only hotter summers.

Furthermore, California, Rhode Island, and Connecticut endured the hottest summer in state history. New Orleans, Detroit, Cleveland, Las Vegas, Columbia, South Carolina, and Portland, Maine, also recorded their warmest summers.

Thus far, 2016 is the third-hottest year on record.

According to Climate Central, Jake Crouch, a climatologist at NOAA, described how the Bermuda High weather phenomenon, which created hot and dry conditions for the East Coast, “[allowed] daytime temperatures to soar”. He also noted that evaporation during the day kept moisture in the air, which caused the higher overnight tempratures.

“Extremely hot summers always pose a challenge to society,” Flavio Lehner, a researcher at NOAA, told Time Magazine. “Such summers are a true test of our adaptability to rising temperatures.”

Climate change “is going to make heat waves more common and stronger,” he later added. “It’s going to be slow in terms of the human lifespan, but you are going to have heat waves ratcheting up more rapidly.”

“If we continue to burn fossil fuels and increase the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we will assume that this level of warmth will be perpetual,” Michael Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Pennsylvania State University, said. “This is a reminder that we need to need to decarbonize.”

Sources: USA Today, Climate Central, Time Magazine / Photo Credit: Mari Kristine Solvi Reigstad / Instagram