Summer hot and dry, but no record-breaker

PHOTOGRAPHER: Lee Coleman

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This summer was hotter and drier than normal but didn’t break any records, weather experts say.

When the mercury shot up to 98 degrees on July 17, the hottest day of the summer so far, it was still not a record.

The record for that day was 99 degrees set in 1900, according to Kevin Lipton, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany.

This year’s heat records were all set earlier in the year. In March, six different hottest-day records were set and on April 16, when the temperature climbed to 91 degrees, another record was set, Lipton said.

“Overall the summer was warmer than normal but not record-breaking,” Lipton said.

The mean temperature for the summer was two degrees above normal. Rainfall in Albany, where the Weather Service takes its measurements, was close to normal. There was, however, much less precipitation north and west of Albany, Lipton said.

Some communities instituted water restrictions or voluntary odd-even yard watering restrictions, like they did in Saratoga Springs, but most did not. Lipton said in Herkimer County it was much drier than in Albany and Schenectady counties, with people reporting water wells drying up.

By the numbers

Temperatures and rainfall by month this summer, according to National Weather Service figures in Albany:

June: Mean daily temperature 67.5 (normal 67.2); rainfall 2.15 inches (normal 3.79); high temperature 94 on June 20-21.

July: Mean daily temperature 74.8 (normal 71.8); precipitation (in Albany) 4.41 inches (normal 4.12); high temperature 98 on July 17.

August: Mean daily temperature 72.5 (normal 70.1); rainfall 2.60 inches, 0.67 percent below normal; high temperature 92 on Aug. 4.

The hot, dry weather translated into excellent business for those who sell air-conditioning systems and install swimming pools.

David DeCrescente, service manager at Adams Heating and Cooling Supply Co. on Curry Road in Schenectady, said business has been very good.

He said new air-conditioning systems were installed in homes and some businesses and his repair people were called out often for repairs and replacements.

“We do mostly central [air-conditioning] systems,” DeCrescente said. He said 75 percent of their customers are homeowners and the rest businesses.

“We did a lot of replacements, the newer [air conditioners] are more efficient,” he said.

“It has kept everybody busy. The guys have been working overtime,” DeCrescente said.

At Pro Dive Pools in Galway, business this year has been “incredible,” said manager Amy Bullock.

“The weather has helped,” she said. During the sluggish economy people decided not to travel for vacations and “put the money in their backyards” instead, she said.

The small company offers a special $12,000 price for the installation of an in-ground swimming pool.

“Last year it rained a lot,” Bullock said. So this summer, with the hot weather and long stretches of dry weather, Pro Dive Pools kept very busy. The company installed at least 20 pools so far this summer.

Tropical Storm Isaac should not present problems for the Capital Region. Lipton of the National Weather Service said today and Sunday should be sunny, pleasant days with highs today near 80 or high 70s and Sunday in the high 70s.

On Monday, the sky will cloud up with rain possible late afternoon or night.

The rain will be from a weather system out of the Midwest that may be strengthened by remnants of Isaac.