July 2023: United States Temperature and Precipitation
Heat waves across southern tier set records
August 2023 was the 10th-warmest August in the 132-year national record (1895–2026), at 74.4°F against a 1991–2020 normal of 73.1°F (+1.3°F).
August 2023 was the 43rd-wettest August in the 132-year national record (1895–2026), at 2.8in against a 1991–2020 normal of 2.7in (+0.1in).
NOAA/NCEI Climate at a Glance, contiguous United States. This is the observed record for the month, not a score of anything said in this piece — the forecast ledger begins 2026-08-17 and cannot reach earlier posts.
Lower 48 Contiguous United States temperature average compared to 1991-2020 normal was +1.35°F from PRISM (Oregon State) for July 2023 with southern Arizona including Phoenix at least 7°F hotter than normal. Western Texas including El Paso experienced very hot conditions. However, the central Plains were much cooler than normal matching up with areas of cloud cover and above normal precipitation. The winner was New England with boatloads of rainfall during July.
Average Temperature Anomaly (1991-2020 normal) calculated by (TMAX+TMIN)/2
Maximum Temperature Anomaly
Minimum Temperature Anomaly
Precipitation Anomaly (1991-2020 normal) inches (not percentage)
New England actual precipitation that fell. Look at those 12” analysis spots!
Washington D.C. area high temperatures from 1871 to July 2023 using the NWS color table which reminds me of an aquarium strip thermometer.
- Milepost
- 53 · laid 2023-08-01T01:45:00.492000Z
- Source
- https://weather.substack.com/p/july-2023-united-states-temperature
- Digest
- fa5be15c5dd2c97ba43b894ec6bec269ef7d583678471b5f0dfbcf51ab9f882a
- Machine
- JSON