Steve Seman

@steveseman.bsky.social

Director of Online Programs in Meteorology and Atmospheric Science; Associate Teaching Professor at Penn State.

June 2023 pales in comparison to this event. There were ~3 total monitors back then that recorded a 24-hr AQI in the Hazardous category (all in PA). Yesterday there were dozens affecting tens of millions of people

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On June 22, State College was running an almost 3" rainfall deficit year-to-date. But, after almost 6" of rain in the last couple of weeks (including a daily record 2.11" yesterday, the deficit is gone and we have a small surplus year-to-date. #pawx

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Wow! Well looks like here in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania we observed our all-time hottest average day on record yesterday! This is a result of record high overnight temperatures (81°F) and the afternoon high reaching well over 100°F. Station data at scacis.rcc-acis.org

Chart showing the maximum 1-day mean average temperature for Middletown-Harrisburg area, PA from ThreadEx, with data from 1888.

Tmin of 76º in State College was actually not a daily record (77º in 1901), but still represents upper-echelon nighttime warmth. It's only the 16th occurrence of a min temp 76º+ since 1882, and is just 1º shy of tying the highest Tmin on record (which has occurred 9 times) #pawx

Impressive May chill yesterday in State College, PA. Tmax of 49º tied for the 4th lowest Tmax this late in the season. Only ones lower were a 48º (1959), 47º (1983), and 46º (2016).

Central PA hasn't been near the seat of the heat lately, but it got impressively warm for March ahead of the storms yesterday. 82º in State College was a daily record, and the first time in the 80s in March since 1998. #pawx

As impressive as the recent cold stretch has been, State College still hasn't managed a day with a single-digit high. Yesterday was one of the better chances, but we made it to 13ºF. We haven't had a day with a high in the single digits since 2018. #pawx

The last week of January in State College had a mean temp of 8.9ºF, and ranked as the 3rd coldest on record. (Though it wasn't close to the coldest 7-day stretch on record overall, which had a mean temp of -0.4ºF in February of 1899) #pawx

Top-5 coldest Jan 25-31 in State College, PA

We've already had 8 sub-50º mornings on campus at Penn State since the beginning of August. That's the most up to this point in September since 1994. We haven't seen this many cool, crisp mornings at this time of year in a few decades.