NEWS

Some like it hot, others not

July felt hotter than normal because it was: in Wilmington 16 days in the month were 90 degrees or more

Molly Murray
The News Journal
Emily Jones from Washington, DC and Jane Walters from Virginia enjoy ice cream on the Rehoboth Boardwalk as hot weather sets in again. cooling off in the shade, under and umbrella, or just floating and sitting in pool water, the weather has definitely been hot in July and the 1st part of August in Rehoboth Beach.
  • Sand at Lewes Beach was foot-scorching 135 degrees on Thursday.
  • Nationwide, July was the 14th warmest on record.
  • The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning through Sunday.

For the past few days, Missy Bell, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has headed for the beach at Lewes to escape the heat at the campground where she is vacationing east of Georgetown.

"The water's great," she said. "It's been really hot and humid. This beach is wonderful."

She is not alone. Delaware's beaches were packed in July and are just as crowded this week as vacationers look for relief from the heat and humidity.

But even the beaches haven't been immune from the heat waves of July and early August.

Friday afternoon has been no exception.

Although August is typically, a little cooler than July, Friday's temperature along with elevated dew point temperatures made for a sweat-drenched day.

At the Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk, according to the Delaware Environmental Observing System, the air temperature was 94.3 degrees at 3 p.m. but it felt like it was 104.5. In Newark, it was a similar hot mess: air temperature: 93.5 but it felt like it was 105.9.

It's been hot and humid all week.

At the beach in Lewes Thursday afternoon, the sand was a foot-scorching 135.5 degrees in the early afternoon. There was a breeze, but it was a land breeze — not a cooling sea breeze.

Geoff Kelly, of Pittsburgh, described it as "a two umbrella day."

His son has been swimming laps, and while he's a runner, it's just been too hot for running, Kelly said.

Ironically, Delaware has been hot, but not hot enough to set many temperature records for either July or August. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, July was the fifth warmest in Delaware since 1895, when they started keeping records.

Nationwide, July was the 14th warmest on record — 1.6 degrees above the long-term average. In fact, the first seven months of this year have been warmer, too — 3 degrees above the 20th-century average.

But in Delaware, the story has been the string of summer heat waves.

Sure, it's been hot, but probably the bigger deal is the number of persistently hot days where the temperature was 90 degrees or higher. In Wilmington, 16 days were 90 degrees or more. In Georgetown, there were 18, 90-degree-plus days and even at Rehoboth Beach, where typically a cooling sea breeze keeps temperatures in check, there were eight days where the temperatures were 90 or more.

The peak temperatures in July throughout the state were on July 25. In Wilmington, it was 96-degrees and in Georgetown, it was 98. And it was hot at the beach, too. In  Rehoboth, it was 97.7 degrees.

Those temperatures aren't uncommon for July in Delaware, said state Climatologist Daniel J. Leathers.

"It's been hot," Leathers said. "It hasn't been ridiculously hot."

The context of our summer incubator is how warm it was in December. Overall, for that month, temperatures were 5 degrees above normal. This summer, by comparison, we've seen temperatures in Delaware that were normal in June and 3 degrees above normal in July, Leathers said.

High dew points, a measure of moisture in the air, have made some of the very hot days feel even hotter, Leathers said.

A visitor to Rehoboth Beach cools off with a cold shower.

And just like in the winter, the position of the jet stream has been driving temperatures. When the jet stream dips south of us, it's cooler. When we are south of the jet stream, it's warmer, Leathers said.

The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning through Sunday, with heat index values of up to 112 on Saturday. The hot and humid conditions are expected to give way to showers early in the week.

Overall, Delaware's summer temperatures have been rising about 0.2 degrees every decade, for a slow increase, he said. July 2009 had an average temperature of 73.4 degrees in Rehoboth Beach compared to this July when the average was 78.1.

A recent state report on climate change concluded we can expect more extreme hot days in excess of 95 degrees during the summer and that heat waves are projected to become longer and more frequent.

Average seasonal temperatures have already increased 2 degrees since 1900 and are expected to increase another 2.5 to 4.5 degrees by 2050 and by up to 8 degrees by 2100, according to the state's Climate Change Impact Assessment.

Even though it has been hot, many visitors say they do remember hotter summers.

"I think it's pretty much the same as we always have," said Mary Hankey, of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "It's hot. ... That's part of summer."

Beachgoers like Hankey can hit the water when it gets oppressive, but people who work in the heat like David Smith have it much worse.

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"It's been hotter. It's been worse," said Smith, owner of Smith Custom Homes in Felton. Smith was shirtless in the heat, as were most members of his construction crew.

"We've got a breeze," he said. "We drink a lot of water and this is way better than freezing cold, single digits."

Winter work is a nightmare because of the layers of clothing, the temperature requirements of concrete and the shorter days where Smith said, they often are at work when it is dark.

Wether cooling off in the shade, under and umbrella, or just floating and sitting in pool water, the weather has definitely been hot in July and the 1st part of August in Rehoboth Beach.

"This is easier," he said. "This ain't nothing."

Reach Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.