A few cool nights this week made for good sleeping weather but nudged Duluth's monthly average temperature down to second place for the warmest July in recorded history.
The average monthly temperature came in at 71.8 degrees for July, just below the 71.9 degrees of July 2006.
But Duluth did manage to break its record for most days in any month hitting 80 degrees or warmer, at 25, breaking the old record of 24 days set in July 1988, according to data from the National Weather Service in Duluth.
July, which averaged 6.2 degrees above normal, was the 13th consecutive month of above-normal temperatures in Duluth. The 12-month period from August 2011 to July 2012 was the warmest in Duluth since 1878.
Few single-day records have been set this summer, and there have been only three 90-degree days. But only one day in July had a daily temperature below normal, the 27th, following June with only four days below normal, making for one of the most consistently warm summers on record.
ADVERTISEMENT
The National Climate Prediction Center is forecasting normal temperatures in the near future but a good chance of above-normal temps for August and into October.
Shorter term, high temperatures for Duluth are forecast to drop back into the 70s starting Friday and through the weekend -- back to about normal.
The warm summer phenomenon isn't unique to the Northland. It's been the warmest year ever so far across the entire continental U.S. So far this year there have been 40,000 warm temperature records set across the country compared to 6,000 cold records. The Twin Cities also saw its second warmest July on record and the only month ever in which temperatures hit at least 80 degrees every day, said Pete Boulay of the Minnesota Climatology office. The Twin Cities also have a running record of 36 straight days hitting at least 80 degrees.
Meanwhile, the warm air temperatures and ample sunlight have pushed Lake Superior's water temperatures to near record levels. The lake's surface rocketed into the 70 degree range earlier than ever in July and water temperatures -- from several buoys anchored off shore -- are expected to rise to record levels this month, surpassing the record set in 2010.
