What's the warmest temperature you ever experienced.

[KMcCallister]

In terms of official observations, I was present for Wichita Fall's record high of 117F on 6-28-1980. I was 10 years old and remember being fascinated with how quickly the water I sprayed on the ground evaporated and how quickly birds would appear at the first sign of water.

It was a period where Wichita Falls had record highs which still stand:

6-24-80 112F
6-25-80 114F
6-26-80 113F
6-27-80 116F
6-28-80 117F
6-29-80 112F
6-30-80 110F
7-1-80 113F
7-2-80 114F
7-3-80 114F
7-4-80 108F

 

[Ben Engle]

What's the warmest temperature you ever experienced.



I remember seeing a Heat Index once for Cedar Rapids, Iowa
of 134 degrees before.

Mike
http://mgweather.com

Welcome to my world. I live in Cedar Rapids, and it probably snowed the next day.

 

[John Diel]

How hot?

Well, the best I know of was about 15 years ago at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. North Range registered temps of 120 F. I know it was hot in that chopper!

 

[Marc Grant]

117 degrees in Needles, California. Quite a shock to jump out on the pavement with bare feet. :shock:

 

[Jay McCoy]

108 °F in Amarillo, TX in June 1990, and 1998 (two days in a row) That's the all time high for Amarillo.

Those were some miserable days for sure. Damn cap held on that day in 98 too when we had CAPE of around 5500, LI of -11 and SRH of 300. if anything popped it would have ben monsterous but the 700mb temp was like a 16 or 17 so nothing. I sat in the east panhandle roasting all afternoon in 70 plus dewpoints hoping but no dice.

 

[Melissa Moon]

At least 110 with high humidity...fun times!

 

[Greg Campbell]

About 7 years ago, I took the 'scenic' route through Death Valley on my way from Southern California to Utah. DV has always been a favorite of mine, but I'd never experienced it in the middle of July. :roll:

Forseeing the opportunity of setting a possible 'lifetime record,' I borrowed an accurate electronic thermometer from work. The highest air temerature I recorded was near the Keane mine site. A stiff breeze was blowing down from the Funeral mountains, probably giving me some compressional heating. The mountains were also reflecting the early afternoon sun, making the whole area into a low level solar furnace. Never before or since have I felt heat like that. It seemed as if the rocks should be melting, but the highest (shaded) air temp was 'only' 124.6 F, a slight disapointment! The sun baked ground was more impressive, indeed fearsome, with several wind sheltered areas tickling 190 :shock:

Later in the afternoon, after establishing a campsite at Texas Spring, I tried some very limited hiking in nearby Golden Canyon (very easy going, I've done the 5 mile round trip to Zabriskie Point many times). The temperature was down to the mid/low teens, but after only ~1/2 mile, the gallon of water I started with was nearly gone and I was just wiped. I crawled back to the car, retrieved my sleeping gear, and and got the hell out of that place...

How on earth can people do this?? http://www.badwaterultra.com/

-Greg

 

[Jared Mysko]

I think we got into the 40's once. I know we hit 39 C a couple of times over the past few years.

I will have to look for the record for Saskatoon because I actually have no idea how hot it has gotten.

Jared

 

[Susan Strom]

125 degrees F was the ambient air temp one day as I walked out of a building in Laughlin, Nevada, a Colorado River town not far from Needles and Lake Havasu. Most people don't visit there in June.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

On the note of the warmest experienced... I don't know what the records are, but this is from an AFD out of DDC a couple days ago:
"SO JUST WHERE HAS OUR LATE JUNE SUMMER WARMTH GONE? HEAD TO THE
ARCTIC! AN "OMEGA BLOCK" UPPER AIR LONGWAVE PATTERN HAS PUSHED VERY
HIGH MIDDLE-UPPER TROPOSPHERIC HEIGHT ANOMALIES INTO THE ARCTIC
REGIONS OF THE YUKON AND NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF NORTHWEST CANADA.
INUVIK (IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA)...LOCATED TWO
DEGREES LATITUDE NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE...RECORDED AN EARLY
EVENING TEMPERATURE OF 86F, AND MAYO, YUKON TERRITORY (3 DEGREES
LATITUDE SOUTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE) RECORDED A TEMPERATURE OF 93F
ALSO AT 00Z.
"

http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KDDC/0406260732.fxus63.html

 

[Matteo CalzÃ]

37.2°C / 99.22°F here in my town on august 10th, 2003 (the hottest summer of ever).

For luck the daily humidity was around 25%, but it was in any case hot
:?

Look how hot was in the mountain too: 35°C/94°F on 1,000 mt (town of Andalo) !

http://digilander.libero.it/gardameteo4/ag...to03/10ago7.jpg

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Excellent question... not sure why I didn't think to ask it. It was July 4, 1991 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had reached 112°F that day.. for some reason at the time I had thought it was a record but it wasn't.

Was anyone around for that 121°F in Phoenix in June 1990? Cripes! They had to close the airport for a few hours because they were worried about planes blowing out their tires. I did a writeup on this back then for the old AWO publication... maybe I'll look around for it sometime.

Tim

 

[Jeff Wear]

On the note of the warmest experienced... I don't know what the records are, but this is from an AFD out of DDC a couple days ago:
"SO JUST WHERE HAS OUR LATE JUNE SUMMER WARMTH GONE? HEAD TO THE ARCTIC! AN "OMEGA BLOCK" UPPER AIR LONGWAVE PATTERN HAS PUSHED VERY HIGH MIDDLE-UPPER TROPOSPHERIC HEIGHT ANOMALIES INTO THE ARCTIC REGIONS OF THE YUKON AND NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF NORTHWEST CANADA. INUVIK (IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES OF CANADA)...LOCATED TWO DEGREES LATITUDE NORTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE...RECORDED AN EARLY EVENING TEMPERATURE OF 86F, AND MAYO, YUKON TERRITORY (3 DEGREES LATITUDE SOUTH OF THE ARCTIC CIRCLE) RECORDED A TEMPERATURE OF 93F ALSO AT 00Z.

I was quite amazed to see the GFS consistently forecast temps in the low to mid 90s for northwestern Canada and the Alaska interior last week. I went and looked up the all-time high for Mayo and found it was 97F so they didn't miss that by much. Inuvik's all-time high is 88F. Although I saw 30C/86F on several METARs in a row at Inuvik last week, it's possible they could have reached 31C/88F in between observations. But the observation from Inuvik that impressed me the most was this.....

SPECI CYEV 220737Z 13009KT 15SM +TSRA BKN013CB BKN050 OVC090 RMK CB5SC2AC2

Yes that is heavy rain and thunder they were reporting. Amazing considering how close they are to the shores of the Arctic Ocean!

 

[Susan Strom]

Was anyone around for that 121°F in Phoenix in June 1990? Cripes! They had to close the airport for a few hours because they were worried about planes blowing out their tires

I was living in Northern California at the time, but still to this day people talk about that day once in awhile. Actually, Sky Harbor hit a withering 122°F that day. What I heard about the airport was that the FAA's operational guidelines for aircraft by the book only went as high as 120°F and because of this, planes were grounded as there was no operational parameter for temps above that range! That is my understanding, but any aviators, correct me if I'm wrong on that.

It doesn't normally get that high in Phx. But out in western Arizona and the California deserts in the harsher climate, Yuma and the Colorado River cities might see that. The terrain out there is noticeably different, much drier. You don't see the same desert plants and vegetation such as lush undergrowth and saguaro like that around Phx. You see a lot of creosote bush (chaparral) but that plant is so tough it could grow on Mars. This is a plant that actually manufactures its own herbicide, to kill off anything growing in its canopy that might compete for its water! However, it is also the plant that releases the aroma that everybody likes during Monsoon rains.

But western Arizona, although forbidding esp this time of year, is a surprising place. Enter one of the mountain ranges out there, such as the extremely rugged KOFA (stands for King of Arizona mine) and you will find native palms and bighorn sheep, perfectly at home on the crags. I have hiked back in there and seen the critters myself, just standing right in front of me. The temp drops quite a bit inside the shelter of the mountains. Although outside of tinajas (small rare pools of rainwater, if you're lucky) water is extremely scarce. I never go there in the summer's searing heat, that's for sure.

 

[Richard Halter]

I do know that there were limitations at Phoenix during the great heat wave on airplane traffic because the air was so warm that there was concern about the aircraft being able to produce sufficient lift in the heat as well.