Labor Day Weekend in the U.S. marks the traditional end of summer and Virginia is enjoying beautiful weather for the holiday weekend. Meteorological summer ended on August 31st, but astronomical summer (which is marked on many calendars) continues until the autumnal equinox, occurring this year at 11:09p on September 22nd.

Record Heat

Regardless of when you consider the summer over, it’s been a hot one. Richmond set hottest month records for June and July. Washington, DC (measured in Arlington, VA at National Airport) also set a record for June, and authorities consider the July record “tied” due to a little help from the rounding of numbers. The DC record for most days over 90F remains at 67 from 1980, although there is some potential for the record to be broken.

August was not as hot overall. There were some heat waves, but also some reprieves. Here at Old Dominion Wildlife Headquarters in the Blue Ridge Mountains, we had a couple of days with highs only in the 60s and overnight lows in the 50s.

Dry Weather

Although we experienced some rain showers and thunderstorms, much of Virginia is experiencing drought conditions. Notable exceptions include Southwest Virginia and the immediate area outside Washington, DC.

Heat Wave Round II

Capital Climate has been following this second heat wave we’re in:

The Washington National high of 102° missed the record by 1°, and the 100° at Dulles missed the record there by 2°.

Here are some more preliminary record reports (old record and date in parentheses):

Salisbury MD 102° (100°, 1999)
Elizabeth City NC 98° (tied 1999)
Wallops Island VA 99° (97°, 1999)…

Here at Old Dominion Wildlife HQ in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, I recorded a high temp today of 94.3F. The Capital Weather Gang is just showing one more day (Wednesday) with high heat, before a moderating trend.

Dry

I don’t much care for high heat, but the one redeeming thing is the lawn doesn’t need mowing. The US Drought Monitor shows much of Virginia is abnormally dry.

Eric commented on an earlier heat wave post that black bear have been spotted more frequently in areas down from the mountains, probably looking for water. Here’s a photo Eric sent the link to:

Thirsty Black Bear?

CapitalClimate compiles yesterday’s record high temperatures from Virginia and elsewhere:

Richmond 102 (100, 1948)
Wallops Island VA 99 (92, 2002/1997)
Washington National 100 @ 2:32 PM
Washington Dulles 97 @ 1:48 PM

After reporting about the cooler mountain microclimate at Old Dominion Wildlife HQ, we finally broke 90 yesterday with a high yesterday of 92.1F.

A Bit of Relief?

CapitalWeatherGang has just a bit of good news in their latest forecast…

I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but “get out and enjoy” highs around 90 today? It will be a very brief break from the crazy heat that’s been with us since a week ago. Mother Nature refuses to give us any greater reprieve, with highs well into the 90s again this weekend and possibly Monday too…

The heat and humidity should take a step back on Tuesday, to highs in the upper 80s to near 90…