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Summer in region wasn’t so hot; forecast calls for warmer winter
GAUGING THE RAIN
It was a relatively dry summer for the Mahoning Valley. Below are the rainfall amounts for this summer compared with the average amounts in inches.
June 21-30: 1.85 for 2010; 1.38 average.
July: 3.17 for 2010; 4.1 average.
August: 2.48 for 2010; 3.43 average.
September (through Tuesday): 1.43 for 2010; 2.69
average.
Source: Vindicator analysis of National Weather Service statistics
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
The temperatures were higher than normal, but it wasn’t an exceptionally warm summer for the Mahoning Valley.
And those looking for a warmer winter are in luck.
The National Weather Service expects “temperatures to be above normal” for the rest of the year, said Frank Kieltyka, a weather- service meteorologist in Cleveland.
The 24-hour average temperature in the area for October is 50.8 degrees, 40.7 degrees for November and 30.4 degrees for December.
As for snow, the weather service is hedging its bets. It predicts there is an “equal chance of normal, above average or below average” for snow accumulation, Kieltyka said.
Summer officially began June 21 and ends today.
The Mahoning Valley had 10 days during the summer in which the temperature reached at least 90 degrees with the highest temperature, 93 degrees, July 23. The Valley averages six days a year with the temperature hitting at least 90 degrees, Kieltyka said.
But the temperature was only a bit above normal, and none of the summer months was among the top 10 in terms of high temperatures.
“When you average it out, it wasn’t that warm,” Kieltyka said. “It was above average. There were some hot days. But it was not as hot as a lot of people felt it was.”
During the last 10 days of June, the start of summer, the 24-hour average temperature was 70.3 degrees. It’s typically 68.4 degrees.
Last July’s average temperature was 72.8 degrees, 2.9 degrees higher than normal.
Last August’s average temperature was 71.9 degrees, 3.5 degrees higher than normal, and also not enough to make the top 10 list of warmest Augusts.
As of Tuesday, the average temperature for September was 63.6 degrees, 0.3 of a degree higher than normal.
The weather service’s official records for this area are recorded at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna and date back to 1896.
Also, it was a relatively dry summer with about three less inches of rain than normal falling on the Valley over the summer.