So far the Summer of 2009 has been hot, with currently 33 days at or above 100 degrees.  When you start talking about very hot summers there are two that come to mind, 1980 and 1998.  In 1980 we had 63 days with temperatures at or above 100 degrees, and in 1998 there were 61!

In this blog we are going to compare this July to the famously hot July of 1980.

First, here is a look at this years July so far...

19 of the 31 days for the month have been at or above 100 degrees.

We had 9 days in a row at or above 100 degrees between July 8th and the 16th.

The average afternoon high temperature for the month is 98.9

10 of the 12 days that have remained below 100 degrees this month received at least a trace of rain.

We are a little above normal when it comes to rainfall, with 2.80 inches officially at the Waco Regional Airport (0.57" above normal).

Now to put this year in prospective, here is a look at July 1980...

Every day in this month was at or above 100 degrees.  Making July 1980 the only month on record for every day of the month to be at or above the Century Mark!

The consecutive 100 degree day streak in 1980 was 42 days (June 23 - August 3).

The average afternoon high temperature for the month was 102.2

Record high temperatures were set on the 1st and 2nd with temperatures on 105 and 106!

The hottest temperature in 1980 actually occurred in June, when we reached a high temperature of 109 on June 27th!

So I guess that gives us a little bit of prospective when it comes to the summer heat.  Hopefully we will never have another month like the one we had in July of 1980!

Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave a comment!