As the seasons change, the official date of each new season varies, which can make it difficult to compare and contrast previous seasons to the current one.
As a result, meteorologists use a slightly different time frame. In the case of summer, “meteorological summer” spans from June 1 to August 31 -- and look! Today marks the end of meteorological summer.
So how did this season stack up compared to previous meteorological summers?
Overall, Meteorological Summer 2023 is the 7th Warmest on Average
June 2023 started off cooler than average, with temperatures running 10 to 15 degrees below average through the first three weeks. Overall, June 2023 finished 1.3 degrees below average.
But once the pattern flipped in late June to early July, temperatures stayed hot, hot, hot!
In fact, Atlanta experienced its 7th hottest July on record, and the majority of the month featured afternoon temperatures at or above 90 degrees.
But August said “Wait, there’s more!”
Temperatures stayed in the 90s for 10 days in a row, including the hottest day of the summer that occurred on August 26 when thermometers reached 99 degrees at the Atlanta airport.
During the final full week of August, morning lows hovered in the upper 70s to low 80s, with a few mornings marking the warmest morning lows on record in the Atlanta area.
Averaging it all together, August 2023 was the 5th warmest on record for Atlanta.
And averaging June, July, and August 2023 all together, Atlanta just experienced its 7th warmest meteorological summer on record.