The June heat wave continued to set records today throughout the east coast. Here are some of the new records:

Atlanta: 98 degrees, with the old record of 97 set in 1995. In addition, this morning’s low temperature of 76 was warmer than the previous high minimum temperature for June 9th of 75 degrees.
Athens: 102 degrees, besting the previous record of 99, set in 1926.
Columbus: 97 ties the record set back in 1986
Macon: 100 ties the previous record from 1954.

Other locations in Georgia, including Augusta, Gainesville, Albany and Savannah also saw highs in the upper 90s, but failed to break any records. Here at my unofficial weather station, I recorded 97 degrees around 2:30 PM. Additional records from around the eastern seaboard:

Raleigh, North Carolina - 99 degrees breaks previous record of 98 set in 1999
Richmond, Virginia - Tied record high of 98 set in 1999.
Atlantic City NJ - 98 degrees beats previous record of 96 set in 1984
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Tied record high of 95 set in 1999
Hartford, Connecticut - Tied record high of 96 set in 1984
Providence, Rhode Island - 97 degrees tops previous record 95 set in 1984
New York LaGuardia Airport high temperature of 99 tops previous record of 95 from 1984
Newark, New Jersey ties old record of 99 set in 1933

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Today’s temperatures, averaging more then ten degrees above normal, broke records across Georgia and the eastern seaboard, as the heat wave we’re in continues. Here are some temperatures from around the area, along with the record temperature for June 8th:

Athens - High 101 Old Record 96
Columbus - High 97 Old Record 96
Macon - High 98 Ties Old Record
Savannah - High 97 Record 100
Augusta - High 100 Record 103
Atlanta - 95 Record 96
Gainesville - 95 Record 97
Charlotte, NC - 99 Ties Old Record
Asheville, NC - 93 Old Record 91
Raleigh, NC - 101 Old Record 100
Wilmington, NC - 98 Old Record 96
Greenville, SC - 100 Ties Old Record
Richmond, VA - 100 Old Record 99
Burlington VT - 91 Ties Old Record

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The temperature here in Lawrenceville topped 90 degrees for the first time in 2008 today, with a maximum of 91.4 degrees at 2PM.  In Atlanta, today’s high was only 89.  But in any case, they’ll have another chance tomorrow and indeed for the next week or so, as we are under the influence of an upper level high pressure system that will keep the warmer than normal temperatures around, and probably keep the rain away as well.

All in all, temperatures are running about 6 degrees above normal for early June.  And, this is about the usual time we see 90 degrees — last year we topped 90 on June 6th, in 2006 on May 24th, and in 2005 on June 14th.

Longtime blog reader Morgan Kemp reminds us of the ongoing drought by posting some comments by Georgia climatologist David Stooksbury made at this time last year, when the drought’s effects were really setting in. Actually, we’re doing a bit better this year through May.  While most of Georgia had less than normal rainfall for the month, Atlanta is only 4 inches short of normal for the year, and Athens has had 6.4 inches less than what would be expected.  Through the end of May, Atlanta recorded 18.65 inches of precipitation for 2008, compared to 11.73 inches for the same period in 2007.

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You may have expected it, but now the preliminary figures from the National Climactic Data Center are in, and they confirm that August 2007 was the second warmest on record for the country, and the warmest for Georgia and seven other southeastern states:

The average temperature of 75.4 degrees nationwide was 2.7 degrees above normal. In Georgia, the average temperature was 83.3 degrees, 4.0 degrees warmer than normal. Despite August being a record warm month for the state, the long-term temperature trend for Georgia is slowly dropping. The heat wave caused more than 30 all time temperature records to be tied or broken around the country, and more than 2,000 daily high temperature records were broken.

For precipitation, it was the 37th driest August on record, out of 113 years measured. Much of the southeast had below-normal rainfall, continuing the drought conditions we’ve had for the past year:

From looking at the map, it appears that Georgia had a relatively normal month, ranking 43rd dries, especially against the extremely dry conditions in the surrounding states. This is due to above normal rainfall in central and south-central Georgia, and normal rainfall in the southeast part of the state. The rest of the state saw below normal precipitation, with the northwest and northeast corners much below normal.

August was a record-breaking month in Georgia. In Atlanta, the first 26 days of the month had high temperatures above 90 degrees, and there were nine days where the temperature went above 100, tying a record set in 1980 for the most days in a year with temperatures above 100 degrees. For the month, the average temperature was 85.6 degrees, 6.7 degrees above normal. The high temperature of 104, set on August 23rd, was not only the record-breaker for the day, but for the entire month. You would have to go back to 1980 to see temperatures this warm.

Here in Lawrenceville, the average temperature for August was only 81.3, and the warmest day was the 9th, when the temperature reached 101.5. That’s still warmer then normal. One reason the average temperature was cooler than in Atlanta is that on many days, the overnight low temperature stayed lower than in the city. I recorded six days with overnight lows less than 70, while Atlanta recorded none. In Gainesville, the average temperature was 84.6, 7.1 degrees above normal, and in Athens, the average was 85.2, 6.9 degrees above normal August temperatures in the Classic City.

Believe it or not, but the official precipitation records for August 2007 in Atlanta will show the city received 95% of its normal rainfall of 3.67 inches. 3.48 inches of rain was recorded at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport during the month, but over two inches of that occurred in the last four days of the month, and most of the rest during the last week. Because August rainfall is typically driven by thunderstorms, the amount of rain you got depended on where you were. I recorded a scant 1.52 inches during the month, while Athens recorded less than half its normal monthly total, with 1.72 inches. Gainesville had 3.17 inches of rain during August.

September is a month of rapid change climate-wise, as we begin to see shorter days and lower daytime and evening temperatures. This month, however, is likely to be warmer than normal, with the Climate Prediction Center calling for at least a 33% chance of a warm September, and an even greater likelihood of hot weather for the southeast corner of the state.

Things are busy in the tropics, by the way, with three active named storms. In the Eastern Pacific basin, Gil is beginning to lose strength, while Henriette is expected to gain strength, and eventually bring wet weather to the southwest US. In the Atlantic, Felix became a named storm this morning. He looks like he is going to follow roughly the same path as Dean did, but track slightly to the south.