Is summer and winter in St. Louis that horrible?

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

You get "used to" the heat as long as humidity values don't go through the roof. With that being said, I much prefer northern summers. Up here 90F is very hot and lows always cool of into the 60s at night. The average low is 53-54F this time of year. However, it has been hot everywhere, and hopefully the pattern will change soon so we can get some widespread rainfall for the crops.

I wouldn't call our summers southern summers...they are hot, but we are not the south. You'll get our summers pretty much across most of the central (west of the Great Lakes) and lower Midwest.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

I wouldn't call our summers southern summers...they are hot, but we are not the south. You'll get our summers pretty much across most of the central (west of the Great Lakes) and lower Midwest.

Sorry, but one doesn't record high temperatures of 105-110F in the inland North. St. Louis climate is getting warmer like nearly everywhere else, and summers are becoming very similar to the rest of the South.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Sorry, but one doesn't record high temperatures of 105-110F in the inland North. St. Louis climate is getting warmer like nearly everywhere else, and summers are becoming very similar to the rest of the South.

Christ, GraniteStater...the whole country experienced a heat wave like this, not just STL. You're an expert meteorologist, you should know this. And for the record, places like Indy, even Chicago, experienced similar record highs as STL did. Record highs are just that..RECORD highs...that doesn't mean they are going to be repeated or that it's a new emerging trend, unless you happen to be able to predict summers in the future. No meteorologist is that good.

[BoomBoxing]

^Uhhh when 11 out of the last 12 years are in the top 12 hottest on record (1880 to present), I think you can easily make the case that it's getting hotter.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

Sorry, but one doesn't record high temperatures of 105-110F in the inland North. St. Louis climate is getting warmer like nearly everywhere else, and summers are becoming very similar to the rest of the South.

GraniteStater,

I would disagree about the inland north comment, if you reference the summer of 1936, you will see record highs of 121 and 120 degrees in North and South Dakota, in addition to Kansas and Nebraska. Other than the desert southwest, these are the record highest temperatures by state.

Additionally, in upper New England, the hottest temperatures on record were during a heat wave in.... 1911! 101 years ago!

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by BoomBoxing

^Uhhh when 11 out of the last 12 years are in the top 12 hottest on record (1880 to present), I think you can easily make the case that it's getting hotter.

Again, this is universally applied to the whole country.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

Christ, GraniteStater...the whole country experienced a heat wave like this, not just STL. You're an expert meteorologist, you should know this. And for the record, places like Indy, even Chicago, experienced similar record highs as STL did. Record highs are just that..RECORD highs...that doesn't mean they are going to be repeated or that it's a new emerging trend, unless you happen to be able to predict summers in the future. No meteorologist is that good.

"The trend is your friend" as the saying goes. With global temperatures increasing, heat waves like this will become much more frequent in intensity. In the past several years record highs have outnumbered record lows by a margain of 7 to 1. Temperature records go back more than 120 years so this warm trend is pretty intense. I saw the writing on the wall years ago, and I have an extreme dislike for any heat. I will probably move even further north at a higher elevation, however I would have to secure a new job first I think my ideal elevation would be 1800-2000ft at a latitude of 44-46N. That doesn't leave to many place to choose from in the lower 48.

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by mike0421

GraniteStater,

I would disagree about the inland north comment, if you reference the summer of 1936, you will see record highs of 121 and 120 degrees in North and South Dakota, in addition to Kansas and Nebraska. Other than the desert southwest, these are the record highest temperatures by state.

Additionally, in upper New England, the hottest temperatures on record were during a heat wave in.... 1911! 101 years ago!

That is true, and I wasn't really thinking about a reference to the Northern Plains, which can obviously experience very hot temperatures. I was mainly referring to the northern Great Lakes and northern New England. I guess most people just don't live in cold climate locales in the lower 48 outside of a few spots. The big question will be if Texas and other areas of the West like Colorado will have enough water to support their own populations in the next few decades given the fact that a warmer climate will mean more evapotranspiration of soil moisture out of the ground which means a much higher likelihood of drought conditions.

[stlouisan]

Originally Posted by GraniteStater

"The trend is your friend" as the saying goes. With global temperatures increasing, heat waves like this will become much more frequent in intensity. In the past several years record highs have outnumbered record lows by a margain of 7 to 1. Temperature records go back more than 120 years so this warm trend is pretty intense. I saw the writing on the wall years ago, and I have an extreme dislike for any heat. I will probably move even further north at a higher elevation, however I would have to secure a new job first I think my ideal elevation would be 1800-2000ft at a latitude of 44-46N. That doesn't leave to many place to choose from in the lower 48.

The trend is my friend? Yes, I would say that's true. Just looking at the way the whole country has been over the past several years, I will say that cities across most of the U.S. are experiencing record-breaking temperatures, especially in the Midwest. We are talking about record highs for the whole country, not just St. Louis. If you are trying to make St. Louis unique, it's just not the truth. I would say summers across the entire Midwest for the most part are becoming more southern...even with the winters. Snowfalls are not nearly as frequent...they may occur in greater amounts in one storm, but for the most part, winters are getting warmer across the ENTIRE Midwest as well as summers. there is really no way one can deny this except by choosing to ignore facts. I'm not accusing you of doing that, just saying...

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by stlouisan

The trend is my friend? Yes, I would say that's true. Just looking at the way the whole country has been over the past several years, I will say that cities across most of the U.S. are experiencing record-breaking temperatures, especially in the Midwest. We are talking about record highs for the whole country, not just St. Louis. If you are trying to make St. Louis unique, it's just not the truth. I would say summers across the entire Midwest for the most part are becoming more southern...even with the winters. Snowfalls are not nearly as frequent...they may occur in greater amounts in one storm, but for the most part, winters are getting warmer across the ENTIRE Midwest as well as summers. there is really no way one can deny this except by choosing to ignore facts. I'm not accusing you of doing that, just saying...

I agree with those points. People will start taking more notice of warming temperatures when it impacts their wallets due to the fact that drought conditions will become more frequent. If you recall, the drought last summer in Texas sent the prices for certain food items through the roof and this summer is just as bad if not worse, covering over 55-60% of the country in severe drought. I gurantee the drought would not be this severe if the average temperatures this year had been closer to average, but warmer temperatures bake the soil moisture right out of the ground.
It would be nice it the US had a greater selection mild climates like those found in western Europe, but overal mildness is generally confined to portions of the West Coast.