2012 Summer Heat Statistics for the Area

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 was the 56th consecutive day with high temperatures of at least 80 degrees at Fort Wayne. This broke the previous record of 55 which was set in 1899. The streak ended on Thursday August 9, as the high temperature only reached 79 at Fort Wayne.

July ended up as the fourth warmest July and month on record with an average high temperature of 91.5°F and an average temperature of 79.4°F. The average temperature is 5.8°F above normal. At South Bend, the month of July was the second warmest on record, with an average high temperature of 90.5°F and an average temperature of 79.5°F. The average temperature is 6.5°F above normal.

With many temperature records broken across the region this year, we decided to take a look at some record temperature statistics for Fort Wayne and South Bend Indiana. We also looked at data for the airport at Benton Harbor Michigan and cooperative weather observer data at Pandora Ohio. Through August 6th, the average temperature for 2012 is 55.7° F at Fort Wayne, 54.9° F at South Bend, 55.6° F at Pandora and 53.6° F at Benton Harbor. These are the warmest average temperatures on record for all locations through July 31st in any year. It is interesting to note that each of the top 4 warmest starts to the year, through August 6th, ended up with top ten warmest years with the exception of Benton Harbor.

Warmest Average Temperature from January 1 through August 6
Fort Wayne	End of Year Rank	Rank	End of Year Rank	South Bend
55.7° F - 2012	??	1	??	54.9° F - 2012
54.9° F - 1921	1st	2	4th	53.3° F - 1991
53.3° F - 1998	3rd	3	2nd	52.5° F - 1998
53.2° F - 1991	T-4th	4	6th	52.3° F - 1987
52.9° F - 2010	8th	5	3rd	52.1° F - 1973

Warmest Average Temperature from January 1 through July 31
Benton Harbor	End of Year Rank	Rank	End of Year Rank	Pandora
53.6° F - 2012	??	1	??	55.6° F - 2012
53.5° F - 1921	1st	2	1st	53.6° F - 1998
52.7° F - 2010	4th	3	T-2nd	53.0° F - 1991
52.0° F - 1987	14th	4	T-2nd	52.6° F - 2006
51.6° F - 1933	T-8th	5	7th	52.5° F - 2002

Note: This chart only contains years with no missing data.

The first 6 months of 2012 have all experienced above normal temperatures. The January 1-February 28 period was the T-17th warmest on record, while the meteorological spring period (March 1-May 31) was the warmest on record at Fort Wayne. At South Bend, the January 1-February 28 period was the 11th warmest on record, while the meteorological spring period was the 2nd warmest on record. While June was only the T-19th warmest at Fort Wayne and the T-22nd warmest at South Bend, record warmth in March and record heat during the first few days of July have helped contribute to the year-to-date warmest average temperatures. Below is a chart containing the monthly average temperatures for Fort Wayne and South Bend during 2012, and how they rank all-time.

Monthly Average Temperatures and Rankings - 2012
Fort Wayne-2012 Period of Record: 1897-2012	Fort Wayne 1981-2010 Norrmal	Month	South Bend 1981-2010 Norrmal	South Bend-2012 Period of Record: 1893-2012
29.6° F - T-29th warmest	24.9° F	January	24.4° F	29.4° F - T-19th warmest
33.2° F - 18th warmest	28.3° F	February	27.8° F	32.2° F - 17th warmest
52.6° F - all-time warmest	38.4° F	March	37.5° F	52.8° F - all-time warmest
51.1° F - T-29th warmest	50.0° F	April	49.0° F	49.5° F - T-42nd warmest
67.0° F - 3rd warmest	61.4° F	May	59.3° F	64.7° F - T-11th warmest
72.1° F - T-19th warmest	70.1° F	June	69.1° F	71.5° F - T-22nd warmest
79.4°F - 4th warmest	73.6° F	July	73.0° F	79.5°F - 2nd warmest

Monthly Average Temperatures and Rankings - 2012
Benton Harbor-2012 Period of Record: 1887-2012	Benton Harbor 1981-2010 Norrmal	Month	Pandora 1981-2010 Norrmal	Pandora-2012 Period of Record: 1949-2012
30.5° F - T-21st warmest	26.7° F	January	25.4°F	30.3° F - 11th warmest
32.5° F - T-18th warmest	28.9° F	February	28.6°F	33.0° F - T-11th warmest
51.3° F - all-time warmest	37.6° F	March	38.0°F	52.8° F - all-time warmest
47.3° F - T-46th warmest	48.6° F	April	49.7°F	50.5° F - T-22nd warmest
61.6° F - 14th warmest	58.4° F	May	60.5°F	67.5° F - T-2nd warmest
69.2° F - T-35th warmest	68.3° F	June	69.8°F	71.4° F - 15th warmest
77.7° F - 4th warmest	72.7° F	July	73.2°F	79.5° F - 2nd warmest

Note: September 2011 was the last month to have an average monthly temperature below normal at both Fort Wayne and South Bend.

The charts below show this year's (through June) average temperatures compared to annual temperatures from 1940 to 2012 for Fort Wayne and South Bend. Click on the thumbnails for higher resolution images.

Fort Wayne	South Bend

With extremely warm temperatures during late June and early July, we decided to take a look at how these temperature extremes stacked up to all-time records. Below are charts containing various information about number of 100° and 90° days, number of consecutive 100° and 90° days, all-time warmest temperatures, and the most recent date that various temperature thresholds were met.

Most 100°F+ Days in a Year
Rank	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
1	8 days - 1934	12 days - 1936 and 1934	4 days - 2002	5 days - 1988
2	6 days - 2012, 1988 and 1936	5 days - 1901	2 days - 2006, 2005, 1999, 1936, and 1934	4 days - 2012
3	3 days - 1953	4 days - 2012, 1988, 1933, 1916	1 day - 9 years, most recently 2012	2 days - 1952
4	2 days- 1955, 1930, 1918	3 days - 1940, 1930, 1918	N/A	1 day - 5 years most recently 1995
5	1 day - 10 years, most recently 2011	2 days - 1983, 1947, 1911	N/A	N/A
Normal Per Year	0.2 day	0.1 day	N/A	N/A

Most Consecutive Days of 100°F+
Rank	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
1	4 days - ending 7/7/2012	9 days - ending 7/15/1936	2 days - ending 8/1/2006, 8/1/2002, 7/22/2002, 7/31/1999, 7/11/1936	2 days - ending 7/7/2012 and 7/16/1988
2	3 days - ending 7/9/1988, 7/14/1936, 7/10/1936, 7/22/1934	6 days - ending 7/25/1934	1 day - 15 times, most recently 7/4/2012	1 day - 12 times, most recently 7/4/2012
3	2 days - ending 9/2/1953, 7/25/1934, 7/20/1930, 8/6/1918	3 days - ending 7/20/1930 and 7/23/1901 7/6/2012
4	1 day - 21 times, most recently 7/17/2012	2 days - 8 times, most recently ending 8/6/1947
5		1 day - 31 times, most recently 6/28/2012

Hottest Days on Record
Rank	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
1	106° F - 6/28/2012, 6/25/1988, 7/14/1936, 7/22/1934	109° F - 7/24/1934	104° F - 7/21/2002, 7/30/1999, 6/1/1934	103° F - 6/25/1988
2	104° F - 7/13/1936, 7/8/1936, 7/24/1934, 7/21/1934	108° F - 7/14/1936	103° F - 7/2/2002	102° F - 7/7/2012 and 6/28/2012
3	103° F - 7/7/2012, 7/14/1954, 7/12/1936, 7/25/1934	107° F - 7/21/1934	102° F - 7/21/1934	101° F - 7/6/2012, 7/7/1988, 6/21/1988, 8/31/1951
4	102° F- 8 days, most recently 7/7/1988	106° F - 7/13/1936, 7/10/1936, 7/8/1936, 6/1/1934	101° F- 8/1/2006, 7/31/2002, 6/20/1953, 7/30/1913	100° F - 8 days, most recently 7/4/2012
5	101° F - 11 days, most recently 7/6/2012	105° F - 7/12/1936, 7/11/1936, 8/9/1934, 7/25/1934	100° F - 17 days, most recently 7/4/2012	99° F - 6 days, most recently 7/9/1988
6	100° F - 14 days, most recently 7/17/2012	104° F - 6/25/1988, 7/22/1934, 7/20/1934, 7/19/1930	99° F - 18 days, most recently 8/2/2006	98° F -14 days, most recently 7/5/2012
7	99° F - 31 days, most recently 7/14/1995	103° F - 8/1/1988, 6/28/1934, 7/21/1901	98° F - 27 days, most recently 7/17/2006	97° F -18 days, most recently 7/30/1999

The Last Time The Temperature Reached At Least...
Temperature	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
109° F	Never	7/24/1934	Never	Never
108° F	Never	7/14/1936	Never	Never
107° F	Never	7/14/1936	Never	Never
106° F	6/28/2012	7/14/1936	Never	Never
105° F	6/28/2012	7/14/1936	Never	Never
104° F	6/28/2012	6/25/1988	7/21/2002	Never
103° F	7/7/2012	8/1/1988	7/22/2002	6/25/1988
102° F	7/7/2012	7/6/2012	7/22/2002	7/7/2012
101° F	7/7/2012	7/6/2012	8/1/2006	7/7/2012
100° F	7/17/2012	7/6/2012	7/4/2012	7/7/2012

Most 90°F+ Days in a Year
Rank	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
1	50 days - 1983	53 days - 1934	47 days - 2002	45 days - 1988
2	49 days - 1988	44 days - 1988	44 days - 2005	43 days - 1983, 1952
3	45 days - 1955	42 days - 1901	38 days - 1988	40 days - 1953
4	43 days - 1953	41 days - 1983 and 1895	34 - 2007	36 days - 1955
5	42 days -1934 and 1899	40 days - 1936 and 1933	33 - 1991	32 days - 2011
Through 8/6/2012	40 days	30 days	27 days	28 days
Normal Per Year	13.4 days	9.7 days	N/A	N/A

Wednesday, July 18th marked the end of the record 22 consecutive days of at least 90° heat at Fort Wayne. This broke the previous record of 21 consecutive 90+ degree days which was set in the period ending July 17, 2012. The streak ended at 22 days as the high for Thursday, July 19th only reached 84°.

Most Consecutive Days of 90°F+
Rank	Fort Wayne	South Bend	Benton Harbor	Pandora
1	22 days - ending 7/18/2012	15 days - ending 7/24/1901	10 days - ending 9/31/1953	11 days - ending 7/21/1983 and 9/4/1953
2	14 days - ending 7/24/1983	13 days - ending 7/18/1936	9 days - ending 7/1/2005, 8/5/2002, and 8/5/1988	10 days - ending 7/7/2012 and 7/26/2011
3	12 days - ending 7/30/1940 and 7/18/1936	11 days - ending 8/29/1936 and 9/15/1897	8 days - 7 times, most recently 6/26/2002	9 days - ending 8/27/1959
4	11 days - ending 8/30/1959 and 7/9/1897	10 days - 7 times, most recently 8/5/1988	7 days - 9 times, most recently 7/2/1991	8 days - 5 times, most recently 6/21/1994
5	10 days -6 times, most recently 6/22/1994	9 days - ending 9/2/1953, 9/9/1922, 7/7/1921, 7/28/1918	6 days - 11 times, most recently 7/6/2012	7 days - ending 6/12/1999, 8/17/1995, 6/16/1967
6	9 days - ending 7/28/1964, 7/26/1934, 6/24/1910	8 days - 8 times, most recently 6/24/1995	5 days - 13 times, most recently through 7/5/2012	6 days - 6 times, most recently 8/3/1995

We also looked back at data from our cooperative observing stations to find the hottest temperatures ever recorded in the County Warning Area (CWA). Below is a table of the hottest temperatures. Data quality and length of record varies from station to station so these numbers are unofficial.

Hottest Temperatures on Record
Rank	Temperature	Location	Date
1	111°F	Napoleon, OH Goshen 3W Paulding, OH Defiance, OH	8/6/1947 7/14/1936 7/14/1936 7/25/1934
2	110°F	Van Wert 1 S Monticello	7/14/1936 6/6/1925
3	109°F	Winamac 2SSE Wabash Lima, OH WWTP Wauseon, OH WTP Montpelier, OH Rochester	7/8/1987, 7/14/1936, 7/22/1934 7/14/1936 7/14/1936 7/14/1936, 8/7/1918 7/24/1934 7/22/1934

Below are a few extreme weather statistics for the state of Indiana, courtesy of the Indiana State Climate Office at https://iclimate.org .

Extreme Data for Indiana

Maximum temperature ever recorded: 116F at Collegeville in 1936.
Most days ever recorded when temperature was over 90F: 105 times in 1953 at Evansville.
Most days ever recorded when temperature was over 100F: 33 times in 1955 at Evansville.
Maximum precipitation in 24 hours: 10.5 inches recorded in 1905 at Princeton
Highest wind gust on record of 111 MPH in Indianapolis occurred on June 29, 1929.

Extreme Maximum Temperatures by Month for Indiana

Month	Max Temp (F)	Year	Place
Jan	80	1943	Madison
Feb	83	1938	Shoals
Mar	91	1929	Madison
Apr	100	1930	Winona Lake
May	103	1934	Collegeville
Jun	111	1936	Seymour
Jul	116	1936	Collegeville
Aug	111	1936	Seymour
Sep	108	1953	Madison
Oct	100	1939	Madison
Nov	91	1933	Shoals
Dec	78	1982	Evansville

NG/SLL/CEO/EB

Updated - 8/1/2012 9 AM