After a very pleasant August, the forecast shows summer isn’t quite finished with us.
AccuWeather has forecast highs for Berks County starting Sunday in the low-to-mid 90s through Friday. If that pans out, six days in a row would be the longest string of 90-degree days of the year. There have been only 14 90-degree days to this point.
Much shorter nights than the heart of summer are less conducive to high heat in September but 90-something days are not uncommon in the first half of the month.
Berks high temperature date records from the 3rd through the 8th are 100 degrees, 94, 94, 97, 93 and 96. Some of the date records might be in jeopardy.
The 100 is from the late season heat wave of 1953, which is tied with a period in 1901 for longest Berks heat wave on record at 13 days and the others are from a hodgepodge of years that recently include a 94 from 2008. There’s a standout short heat wave from this period in 1985 that has a 94 and a 93 in there.
But most notably, the late summer rush to records from a most unlikely year, 1983, was building during this period to a 100-degree Sept. 10 and a follow-up 98 on the 11th. 1983 has the 97-degree mark for Sept. 6.
That year ended with 49 90-degree days, most in any year in the 125-year Berks temperature database. The only serious run at that mark occurred in 2010.
The drought watch
Something working in the favor of setting records with the upcoming heat wave is the lack of recent rainfall. As the ground dries out, it can amplify the heat. Barely a half-inch of rain was recorded at Reading Regional Airport the final two weeks of August.
There isn’t a drop of it in the forecast for the next week.
There have been 14 90-degree days this year at the airport, with 96 as the highest. Those are both modest figures.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection-issued drought watch for Berks County remains in place and includes nearly all of southeastern and southcentral Pennsylvania.
Only Delaware and Philadelphia counties in the region are considered back to “normal.”
About August
The airport is at a near normal status: 3.72 inches of rain in August, only 0.77 below a historically high normal; and only 1.14 inches below normal for a historically high normal for a year.
The average temperature for August at the airport was 74.3 degrees, exactly normal. There was one 90-degree day.
But, the normals are the averages of the years 1991 to 2020 when temperatures and precipitation totals have been rising, and those normals are highest yet in both categories. The weather service calculates normal based on the most recently completed 30 years, ending with the zero year.
“August was a rather unremarkable weather month in Berks County,” said Berks weather historian Jeffrey R. Stoudt. “(The airport) had its greatest date amount, 1.31 (inches) officially on 12th. Though for most locations, it was mostly on the 13th, as it occurred mostly within an hour around midnight. And this storm was the most widespread in the county.
“Significant rains fell at some locations on the 6th-7th and Aug. 15 with few over an inch on one or the other. Rains were only light to moderate a few events during the second half, thus establishing a drying trend.”
What difference a year makes: Berks suffered through the hottest August on record in 2022 at an average temperature of 78.7 degrees with 16 90-degree days.
The 1973 heat wave
There’s something about the “3” years and heat in times past in Berks County.
The 1953 heat wave and the 1983 record number of 90-degree days are major events, but at this time 50 years ago was another late summer heat wave that ran nine days and is among the leaders for length in Berks.
Both of the events from 1973 and 1983 were out of character for what evolved in the late 1960s to become a chilly era that continued mostly through the mid-1990s.
In late August 1973, about 14 months had passed from the devastating flooding caused when the remnants of Tropical Storm Agnes stalled over eastern Pennsylvania and caused widespread flooding in Berks and many other spots.
1973 didn’t contain any catastrophes like the year before, but it, too, was soggy.
“The early half of summer was quite wet,” said Stoudt, who was a student in Wilson High School at the time, though on summer break. “Then a drying trend ensued during August. After 2.64 inches of rain to begin August, the remainder of the month could deliver only 1.74 inches additional, including 0.66 on 20th-21st for the final rain of the month. Therefore, the heat wave was aided by dry ground. Thunderstorms attacked the heat in early September.
“Like this summer, there had been a paucity of severe heat all summer (in 1973),” Stoudt said. “Days that warmed to at least 90 were high-end average, 17 through Aug. 26, but all low 90s save for a 95 on Aug. 10.”
“Then the hottest stretch of the summer began on Aug. 27.”
The daily highs:
• Aug. 27: 91 degrees
• 28th: 98
• 29th: 94
• 30th: 93
• 31st: 95
• Sept. 1: 91
• Sept. 2: 93
• Sept. 3: 90
• Sept. 4: 90
At the time, measurements were taken at the Met-Ed offices on Pottsville Pike in Muhlenberg Township. The U.S. Weather Bureau era had ended and with it the manned offices in center city.
The heat wave barely hung on the final two days. The temperature on Sept. 5 reached 88 degrees.
This heat wave never broke through for any date records. It was going up against the much hotter 1953 episode.
“A cool snap a few days before this heat wave was keyed by a low of 48 (degrees) on Aug. 23 in between highs of 75 and 76,” said Stoudt, also a retired meteorologist who has access to all dates in the weather databases.
On Aug. 29, 1973, when the 98 was recorded, the Reading Eagle reported on a period of mayhem in Reading when there were five explosions at the Jewish Community Center and five set fires in Reading several hours later. And, the Reading Fair opened with an attendance estimated at 21,000.
“(After the heat wave) Weather then eased into cool, resulting in a few lows in the 40s during September’s second week; each day still warmed well into the 70s,” Stoudt said. “No more 90 days occurred, so the year total was 26.”
August rainfall totals
Hamburg, 5.65 inches; Pine Grove, 5.33; Mohrsville SW, 4.86; Frystown, 4.85; Boyers Junction, 4.69; Mohrsville, 4.69; Pricetown 4.65; Wernersville, 4.45; Oley Furnace, 4.43; Auburn 4.33; West Reading, 4.32; Lincoln Park, 4.24; Topton, 4.24; Bernville, 4.20; Cornwall Terrace, 3.98; Reading east, 3.95; West Lawn, 3.94; Greenfields, 3.83; Dryville, 3.79; Vinemont, 3.76; New Morgan, 3.66; Henningsville, 3.65; Shillington, 3.61; Amityville, 3.55; Reiffton, 3.53; Lobachsville, 3.50; Womelsdorf, 3.42; Morgantown, 3.32; Mohnton, 3.26; Knauers, 2.74; Hopewell, 2.69; Birdsboro, 2.50; Adamstown, 2.38.
Source: Berkshire mont
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