The summer of 2018 in Syracuse is now the most humid in at least 45 years!
Through August 27th, Syracuse has felt dew points at or exceeding 70 degrees for 40 days!
Dew point temperature is a way to measure the amount of moisture in the air. The higher the dew point the higher the moisture content in the air. In general, the higher the dew point the more uncomfortable it feels.
While everyone has their own sense of what a ‘humid’ day is, most central New Yorkers notice it feeling humid when the dew point creeps into the mid 60s. Dew points in the 70s usually signals a change to more tropical-like conditions.
Since 1997, the most days during the June through August period with a dew point of 70 or better prior to this summer was 32 days set in 2010 prior to this summer. The average over the past 20 years is 19 days…2018 has exceeded both! Incredibly, August alone has had 20 days and counting of 70°+ dew point days which has surpassed the annual average for Syracuse!
Even broken down into hours where the dew points have exceeded 70° is impressive. Syracuse averages 135 hours of 70°+ dew points a year. This summer (through August 27th) we are at 622 hours and counting! The previous high was in 1973 with 343 hours which is far back as we have hourly records.
That’s about 4 times greater than normal and the most humid summer in at least 45 years!
To put more perspective on this, Atlanta, known for its hot and humid summers, averages 570 hours with the dew point 70°+. So safe to say, this has been an Atlanta-like summer with regards to humidity at least!
For as humid as it has been here in Syracuse it still pales in comparison to what it typically is like along the Gulf coast….
Houston: 3432 hours
New Orleans: 4017 hours
Miami: 4165 hours
While it has been more humid this summer, Syracuse is still not ranked as one of the top 10 warmest summer’s on record. As of August 27th we were ranked as 21st warmest with 11 days above 90 degrees. No daily record high temperatures have been set in Syracuse this summer. Guess it goes to show you, it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.
