If any of you are living in Connecticut (or the immediate area East, North, or West), you may have noticed something today. HEAT. LOTS AND LOTS OF HEAT. But how much heat, you ask?
There were some substantial records set today for maximum temperature. Bridgeport, late in the day, beat a record temp of 91°F set all the way back in 1965... with a solid 94° by 5:00 PM... then inched a degree higher briefly to 95° within the hour. A rather big surprise, since we were experiencing a solid sea breeze in the morning keeping temps lower (about a 10° contrast compared to about 30 miles inland started the day, but the pressure evened out and the winds died down, allowing the warmer air to take its place)
All eyes were on Bradley International Airport today though (in Windsor Locks, just north of our capital, Hartford). I was expecting temperature records to be shattered there today, and it couldn't have been more right. By 1:00 PM, the record of 96°F, set back in 1965 was already beaten. But this was just the beginning. By 5:00 PM, we set an outstanding record of 99°F. This temperature was the highest reached temperature since August 2nd, 2006.
Let me restate that again. Windsor Locks has not seen a 99° day since August 2nd, 2006. Today was the hottest day for almost THREE YEARS and TEN MONTHS. It was warmer then any summer day - or ANY day for that matter, between then and now. Also, it tied for the hottest May day on record, of 99°, set in 1996.
What makes this even more extraordinary is that it was the hottest location at any NWS weather station in the entire United States. (The hottest that I found was 95°F in Phoenix).
To make things worse, the air that existed over CT was moderately unstable to begin with. This airmass that allowed these high temperatures also put a cap that prevented any major thunderstorm development... but the threat was always there. It was late tonight (about 6:30 PM) that the threat was realized. In Southwestern CT (New London County), there was a sudden, very strong isolated storm that spawned, only about a mile wide, and it managed to draw 40 mph winds and up to 1 inch hail around the Mystic area... but within a half an hour, it dissipated, even before it could reach Rhode Island.
Well, it looks like my cries for "boring weather" were finally answered today. Hope that you all had your AC's in working order, and be thankful that we'll be seeing a solid 15 degree drop compared to today. As always, follow me on my twitter, @Bleet for forecasts and other interesting tweets! (It's not ALL weather tweets, gimme a follow!).
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