Chilling? So far, July ranks among the coolest Julys in Valley history

By David Skolnick

The temperature hasn’t hit 90 degrees even one time this month.

YOUNGSTOWN — With only a week separating us from August, many in the Mahoning Valley are probably hoping for the onset of global warming.

Well, maybe not, but a few warm days would be nice.

So far this July has been unseasonably cool.

There have been no days in which the temperature hit 90 degrees.

The highest temperature for the month is 86 degrees on July 16. It was 85 degrees on July 15. No other day this month has hit 85 degrees.

The average temperature for the Valley for the month so far is 65.9 degrees, 3.7 degrees lower than average, according to National Weather Service statistics.

If it doesn’t warm up, this would be the coldest July on record. The NWS has weather records for the Valley dating back to 1897.

The coldest July was in 2000 when the average temperature was 67 degrees.

“It’s been below average throughout the entire state,” said Bill Randel, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

The issue is a low pressure from the East Coast that is keeping the warm air from the South away from the Great Lakes region, he said.

The Valley’s high temperature this time of the year is supposed to be 82 degrees.

The expected high for today is to be in the lower 80s, in the upper 70s Sunday, and then back to the lower 80s from Monday to Wednesday, according to the NWS forecast.

The Valley has about 10 days a year, typically between late June and August, when the temperature reaches at least 90 degrees.

So far this year it’s happened only one time. On June 25, the high was 90 degrees.

Last month’s average temperature was 65.4 degrees, 0.5 of a degree lower than a normal June for the area.

The low temperatures this summer are largely responsible for at least a 50-percent decline in attendance this summer at the city-owned North Side Pool on Belmont Avenue, said Jason Whitehead, the mayor’s chief of staff and acting parks and recreation commissioner.

“We’ve been closing early because people aren’t coming to swim in this weather,” Whitehead said.

skolnick@vindy.com

Cool summer

The average temperature for the Valley so far in July is 65.9 degrees, 3.7 degrees lower than average.

The average temperature for June was 65.4 degrees, 0.5 of a degree lower than a normal June for the area. SOURCE: National Weather Service.