A Remarkable Summer

We all know it has been hot, but just how hot? I was a little curious how this summer is holding up to summers over the last couple of years so I decided to pull up the numbers for Cape Girardeau, Mo, Carbondale, Il, Paducah, Ky, and Poplar Bluff, Mo.

I took a look at "meteorological summer" which runs June 1 through August 31. To keep it fair, I looked at each meteorological summer from 2007-2010 and only went through August 8 of those years.

2010 is going down as a hot one alright. Take a look at the statistics below.

Data read as number of days hitting 90° or higher. (% of the days of summer, June 1 - August 8, hitting 90° or higher)

Cape Girardeau, Mo:
2010: 47 days of summer have been 90°+. (68%)
2009: 20 days of summer were 90°+. (29%)
2008: 33 days of summer were 90°+. (48%)
2007: 34 days of summer were 90°+. (49%)

Carbondale, Il:
2010: 47 days of summer have been 90°+. (68%)
2009: 18 days of summer were 90°+. (26%)
2008: 24 days of summer were 90°+. (35%)
2007: 26 days of summer were 90°+. (38%)

Paducah, Ky:
2010: 46 days of summer have been 90°+. (67%)
2009: 20 days of summer were 90°+. (29%)
2008: 30 days of summer were 90°+. (43%)
2007: 33 days of summer were 90°+. (48%)

Poplar Bluff, Mo:
2010: 56 days of summer have been 90°+. (81%)
2009: 24 days of summer were 90°+. (34%)
2008: 31 days of summer were 90°+. (45%)
2007: 24 days of summer were 90°+. (35%)

You can easily see that this year has seen more 90° than any other of the past four years. One thing to keep in mind, last summer (2009) was much cooler than normal. We had above normal rainfall which lead to much cooler temperatures in July.

The data tells us that the average number of days 90°+ over the last four years is:
Cape Girardeau, Mo: 33.5 days
Carbondale, Il: 28.8 days
Paducah, Ky: 32.3 days
Poplar Bluff, Mo: 33.8 days

That means that the locations are xx% above the four year average:
Cape Girardeau, Mo: 40%
Carbondale, Il: 63%
Paducah, Ky: 42%
Poplar Bluff, Mo: 66%

After looking at just that data, you could make the argument that Poplar Bluff, Missouri has been the "hottest" compared to four year normal of the four cities this summer.

Keep in mind, this isn't taking in to consideration the actual high temperatures. This is just looking at the number of days 90° or higher. Paducah, Ky has had the hottest official temperature so far in the KFVS viewing area (104° on two occasions).