Summer of ’88 a season of extremes

After lots of rain and flash flooding across Southwestern Pennsylvania recently, weather patterns have changed and Mother Nature treated us to some September-like weather this past week. The cool mornings of the past few days reminded me of a similar pattern that happened in 1988.
In that year, temperatures on June 11 were 39 degrees in Uniontown and 35 in the mountains. All of that changed quickly and the summer of 1988 saw 38 days of temperatures topping 90 or better, with temperatures of 100 or better on three occasions. The average number of days per year with 90-degree temperatures or better in the Uniontown area is typically eight.
On July 16, 1988, Uniontown tied the all-time heat record of 102, and nearby Pittsburgh set an all-time heat record with a reading of 103. Uniontown also saw a temperature of 101 on July 7 and 100 on July 17. Even in the mountains were folks come to cool off when it gets hot, records were impressive. We had eight days with 90 or above. The average is just one day per summer season when the temperature hits 90 or better in the mountains.
It was not just the hot temperatures, it was also the fact that this heatwave lasted a long time. See chart below for the high temperatures for the first part of the heat wave from July 4 through the 16.
The month of August had another run of consistent high temperatures of 90 degrees or better from the Aug. 8-17. The 100 degree reading on the Aug. 17 was the last of the 90 plus temperatures. After that temperatures cooled down to more normal levels.
Another dangerous part of this massive heatwave was the fact that little or no rain fell. A large high pressure system blocked any storms from moving through the area and the heat was so intense, it even inhibited the formation of summer thunderstorms. From June 10-18 the Uniontown area only measured .30 hundredths of an inch of rainfall. In the mountains only one tenth of an inch fell at Chalk Hill from June 10-18. Area farms suffered greatly. By mid-August Southwestern Pennsylvania looked more like Southwestern Arizona.
Weather records in Uniontown go as far back as 1916. The “Dust Bowl” of the mid-1930s also produced similar heat and drought conditions and a large part of the daily high temperature records still stand in the records books to this day from the summer of 1988 and the summer of 1936. It is interesting to note that the differences on the chart above in temperatures between Uniontown and the mountains just to the southeast of the city.
This summer appears to be more in line with average temperatures and rainfall. No one wants to see a repeat of 1988.