If you were afraid you might miss your heat-induced headaches and nausea, don’t worry, the summer of 2011 is still kicking.
So far, 2011 is rivaling the super-hot, record-setting summers of 1980 and 1954 – as well as a couple years in the Dust Bowl Era – as the hottest this area has seen. And August, appears to be ready to bring more of the same.
“Typically during those extremely hot summers, August is very warm as well,” Andy Kleinsasser, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Wichita, said Tuesday. “It’s looking like this month will be above normal (temperature wise) as well.”
Temperatures in Winfield and Ark City hit 100 by noon Tuesday and were expected to approach 109 degrees or higher. A cold front is expected to skirt this area this week, but it’s unlikely to swoop down far enough to bring cooler temperatures to south central Kansas, Kleinsasser said.
That means the sweltering weather is likely to stay for awhile.
In July, Wichita – the closest city for which thorough, long-term temperature records are kept – 24 days reached 100 degrees, tying a record for the area set in 1980.
The average temperature was 89.3 degrees, second only to 1980.
Unofficial data for Winfield and Ark City show that 21 days reached 100 degrees. Though a handful of other days reach 98 or 99 degrees.
A lot of factors contribute to the hot weather, Kleinsasser said. For starters, the jet stream has moved to the north considerably and is near the Canadian border. Typically the air south of the jet stream is hotter.
And drought conditions haven’t helped either. Dry ground means dry air, which heats more readily than moister air.
Also, Kleinsasser said, a ridge of high pressure has created a “big dome of hot air” that has settled over the area. That air has slowly been sinking and with all the other factors, has created some intense heat.
But a little hope for relief might exist.
The summer of 2011 differs a bit from other hotter-than-usual summers because the heat arrived early. June was unseasonably hot and produced a number of 100-degree days.
“This hot summer started a lot earlier,” Kleinsasser said. “So maybe it will let up a little earlier. We’ll have to wait and see.”