Summer 2015 Weather Summary

The story all summer has been the same. All sorts of records have been shattered. Then September arrived. This will end up as our first cooler-than-normal month in a long time. While the month will not bring record breaking refreshment, it has at least kept us from the reaching the very bottom of all summers. Of course, I'm sure that going with meteorological summer (June 1 through August 31) would have easily set records if I had actually tracked the weather in that manner. Instead, I have decided to use June 21 through September 22 as my date range for summer.


Let's start with the temperatures. This was a huge problem this year up until we flipped the switch earlier this month. While we did still have some hot days, we have actually been on the cool side to finish up the summer. This has kept us from recording our worst summer temperatures ever, but not by a whole lot. Our three worst summers in terms of just the temperature have been in the last three years.

Summer Temperatures Over the Years
Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score
1	1955	76.94%		24	2000	67.24%		47	2008	63.26%
2	1954	76.14%		25	1969	66.81%		48	1996	63.20%
3	1948	73.15%		26	1982	66.07%		49	2012	62.70%
4	1953	72.97%		27	2010	66.03%		50	1979	62.41%
5	1952	72.34%		28	1988	65.97%		51	1991	62.18%
6	1949	72.01%		29	1985	65.91%		52	1977	62.04%
7	1957	71.96%		30	1984	65.87%		53	1961	61.65%
8	1964	71.52%		31	1972	65.60%		54	2007	61.60%
9	1956	71.37%		32	1968	65.46%		55	2003	61.04%
10	1980	71.19%		33	1986	65.35%		56	1992	60.96%
11	1951	70.77%		34	1971	65.30%		57	1958	60.94%
12	1950	70.58%		35	1978	65.24%		58	1995	60.80%
13	1962	70.34%		36	2002	65.09%		59	2006	60.77%
14	1960	69.73%		37	1976	64.46%		60	2004	60.10%
15	1966	69.64%		38	2005	64.13%		61	1998	59.39%
16	1959	69.50%		39	1975	64.11%		62	2009	59.01%
17	2001	69.03%		40	1965	64.10%		63	1990	58.63%
18	1993	68.74%		41	1974	63.99%		64	1994	58.37%
19	1999	68.25%		42	1981	63.92%		65	1967	55.11%
20	1973	68.10%		43	1997	63.73%		66	2014	53.77%
21	1970	67.89%		44	1987	63.46%		67	2015	53.03%
22	1963	67.84%		45	2011	63.44%		68	2013	52.58%
23	1983	67.50%		46	1989	63.29%

Moisture has also been a problem. Through much of June and July, we had serious problems with drought conditions caused by a lack of snowpack from the winter and the lack of rain falling. A couple of days in August were abnormally wet for summer, but the drought conditions persisted. September has been an improvement, but we are below average in precipitation for the month. The combination of hot weather and dry conditions has led us to our third worst summer ever, and we actually weren't that far off of our worst summer's score.

Summer Over the Years
Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score		Rank	Year	Score
1	1954	61.89%		24	1956	52.34%		47	1974	47.99%
2	1955	61.29%		25	1993	52.14%		48	2008	47.98%
3	1948	58.39%		26	1973	51.83%		49	2002	47.94%
4	1964	57.06%		27	2001	51.60%		50	2011	47.85%
5	1953	56.43%		28	1976	51.36%		51	1989	47.55%
6	1980	56.27%		29	1951	50.92%		52	1958	47.22%
7	1949	56.19%		30	1997	50.88%		53	1987	46.92%
8	1957	55.51%		31	1985	50.87%		54	1992	46.79%
9	1959	55.37%		32	1971	50.68%		55	2012	46.60%
10	1963	55.21%		33	1996	50.65%		56	1961	46.10%
11	1962	55.08%		34	2010	50.19%		57	1991	46.00%
12	1983	54.50%		35	1975	50.03%		58	2003	45.96%
13	1978	54.39%		36	2000	50.02%		59	1995	45.49%
14	1968	53.91%		37	1979	49.20%		60	2009	45.28%
15	1966	53.90%		38	1984	49.09%		61	2006	44.94%
16	1952	53.75%		39	1986	49.00%		62	1994	44.73%
17	1969	53.35%		40	1965	48.95%		63	1990	44.03%
18	1970	53.32%		41	2007	48.84%		64	1998	43.83%
19	1960	53.16%		42	1988	48.77%		65	2013	42.55%
20	1950	53.16%		43	1977	48.62%		66	2015	40.84%
21	1999	52.63%		44	2005	48.49%		67	2014	40.77%
22	1982	52.62%		45	1981	48.32%		68	1967	40.72%
23	1972	52.45%		46	2004	48.23%

For more information on how scores have been generated, visit my blog post at:

http://maritimeorca0.blogspot.com/2012/03/follow-up-weather-index-in-excel.html
Keep in mind that scores are based off of averages. These values are likely to shift a little over time.