Upper Michigan Heat Wave July 13 - July 19 2013

Upper Michigan Heat Wave 2013

Now that the heat and humidity have given way to cooler weather we thought we would take a look back at the recent heat wave over Upper Michigan. Overall, the duration of such warm temperatures both at day and night and the prolonged oppressive higher dewpoints and humidity ended up being most significant about this heat wave.

The stretch of very warm conditions started on Saturday July 13^th when the high temperature at our office in Negaunee township reached 86 degrees. High temperatures then reached at least 85 degrees through Thursday July 18^th. The warmest reading was a toasty 92 degrees achieved on Tuesday July 16^th. The next day the mercury topped out at 91 degrees. Neither day set a record high though and neither is even in the top 20 as far as warmest temperatures on record at NWS Marquette, MI. By the way, the warmest high temperature on record at our office is 99 degrees set multiple times, the most recent time on July 28^th 1988.

These high temperatures also came along with oppressive humidity – especially on Tuesday July 16^th when dewpoints were in the lower 70s which resulted in heat indices around 100 degrees. Keep in mind that when the dewpoint reaches above 60 degrees it starts to get uncomfortable and when it pushes past 70 degrees it can be downright miserable.

Here is a sampling of high temperatures across the area during this recent warm spell (warmest temp during the period is in red):

Locations	July 13th	July 14th	July 15th	July 16th	July 17th	July 18th	July 19th
Ironwood	82	82	86	90	88	91	82
Houghton	83	83	82	87	85	89	75
Copper Harbor	79	77	80	89	83	79	77
Iron Mountain	87	88	91	94	93	94	87
NWS Marquette	86	88	89	92	91	85	79
Marquette Lakeshore	82	85	75	83	84	81	81
Escanaba	79	82	84	84	91	84	88
Menominee	82	84	86	88	88	91	90
Munising Lakeshore	89	90	85	95	85	86	82
Newberry	82	86	90	90	91	81	81
Manistique	72	77	82	81	89	77	87

So the question now is how did this stretch of warm temperatures compare to periods of hotter temperatures in previous years?

Consecutive Days with Max Temperatures at or Above 85 Degrees at NWS Marquette, MI:

Duration	Year	Dates	Max Temp
10 Days	1995	June 15th - 24th	96
10 Days	1983	July 11th - 20th	95 (twice)
7 Days	2011	July 16th - 22nd	94 (twice)
6 Days	2013**	July 13th - 18th	92
6 Days	2007	June 10th - 15th	91
6 Days	1991	August 25th - 30th	93

Consecutive Days with Low Temperatures at or Above 65 Degrees at NWS Marquette, MI:

Duration	Year	Dates	Highest Min Temp
6 Days	2013**	July 13th - 18th	68
5 Days	2010	July 3rd - 7th	68
5 Days	1988	July 5th - 9th	73
4 Days	2001	August 5th - 8th	71
4 Days	1995	August 8th - 11th	67