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I've been a "weather geek" most of my life and one thing I've noticed is that in the summer, Newark not only has the highest temperatures in the metro NY City area, but frequently on the entire East Coast.
Today's incredible 108 degree reading is a prime example. A local news station seems to wonder this question as well and tries to answer it in this video.
But I'm not fully "buying it", for the following reasons:
1) If it were simply "lower elevation than Central Park", I would think Central Park would also have lower nighttime lows than Newark (since both have pretty big "heat island" effects, CPK is probably more but it's also not as "right on top" of urbanization as Newark Airport is). Also if that were the case than LaGuardia Airport should be just as warm, and it often isn't (at least in the daytime).
2) I've looked at record highs where Newark shared it with other area stations, and I notice that before the 1980s, it often was not consistently the warmest station. For example, on Central Park's own record high day of 106 degrees on July 9, 1936, Newark was "only" 103 (which is not the record high for the date even, as it was 104 there in 1993 when Central Park was "only" 100). Another good example is July 3, 1966. It was 103 in Central Park, an incredible 107 at LaGuardia (highest temperature ever in NY metro until Newark's 108 today) but "only" 105 in Newark (yes, that's still higher than Central Park was that day, but it seems lately Newark is often 4-5 degrees higher than any other weather station within 200 miles or more, it's often warmer than Washington, DC when no other nearby weather station is......for example hot as it was today the only other place that was over 105 was Baltimore 200 miles to the south!). Actually, today's previous "high for the date" of 101 in 1957 is another good one. It was also 101 in Central Park that day, not 4 or 5 degrees cooler.
I wonder if there's an equipment issue, or something quirky about the location since about 1980 or so to produce this anomoly and I'm surprised that if even local news notices this that the NWS hasn't questioned it. Thanks for any thoughts here.
07-22-2011, 08:27 PM
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Newark New Jersey is in a very industrial area with lack of greenery there that helps heat it up a bit more than other areas of the New York City metro. Most other areas of the NYC metro have more greenery and less industrial then that area around Newark in that part of New Jersey. Newark also does not have the Atlantic Ocean to moderate temperatures there as much as it does for New York City city limits and for areas of Long Island, etc.
Usually when above average warm/hot temperatures appear in the NYC metro the wind comes from the Southwest and West and Newark gets the brunt of the warm/hot temperatures because of that wind direction.
New York City metro area actually has some noticeable micro climates some days, even if it may not be nearly as obvious as a place like the San Francisco metro area and this comes in temperatures, and precipitation. I think today is a good example.
Today, Coney Island and Far Rockaway right around the beach I believe did not even reach 100 degrees, but more around 95 degrees as well as most places along the immediate coastline of Long Island.
Newark New Jersey is in a very industrial area with lack of greenery there that helps heat it up a bit more than other areas of the New York City metro. It also does not have the Atlantic Ocean to moderate temperatures there as much as it does for New York City city limits and for areas of Long Island, etc.
Usually when above average warm/hot temperatures appear in the NYC metro the wind comes from the Southwest and West and Newark gets the brunt of the warm/hot temperatures because of that wind direction.
New York City metro area actually has some noticeable micro climates some days, even if it may not be nearly as obvious as a place like the San Francisco metro area and this comes in temperatures, and precipitation.
Today, Coney Island and Far Rockaway right around the beach I believe did not even reach 100 degrees, but more around 95 degrees as well as most places along the immediate coastline of Long Island.
Very true. That’s the big reason Newark is always the top hot spot in the Tri-State/East Coast region…they are at the very center of an urban area of 25 – million people, with nothing but brick, steel, and pavement. Still, NYC, Philly, DC were not far off, they all hit 100 F or higher today. Also, where geographically the "peak heat" occurs, is composed of many different things (current wind direction, cloud cover, duration of cloud cover…etc). It’s not simply based on NWS station location. One time the peak heat is centred in one spot, the next time it might be centered in another. Almost all the NWS stations today in the Tri-State/Middle Atlantic had less than 8 F between their daily highs...so the difference is not all that large in any event.
What scares me is if the temp was record at 108 F…inside a shaded intrument shelter 3 feet off the ground (the NOAA standard instrument housing)…imagine what pavement temps on I-95 near Newark International Airport were in the midday sun ! 115, 125 F ?
Wow.
Last edited by wavehunter007; 07-22-2011 at 08:50 PM..
07-22-2011, 08:55 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wavehunter007
Very true. That’s the big reason Newark is always the top hot spot in the Tri-State/East Coast region…they are at the very center of an urban area of 25 – million people, with nothing but brick, steel, and pavement. Still, NYC, Philly, DC were not far off, they all hit 100 F or higher today.
What scares me is if the temp was record at 108 F…inside a shaded instrument shelter 3 feet off the ground (the NOAA standard instrument housing)…imagine what pavement temps on I-95 near Newark International Airport were in the midday sun ! 115, 125 F ?
Wow.
Yeah. Those are the reasons why Newark can get more hot than other areas of the metro area. I noticed for the past month almost every day Newark ends up being 4 to 6 degrees warmer than other areas of the NYC metro area most days, including today. It seems like most of the year Newark can be a bit warmer in general.
Most of New York City did hit 100 and higher today but Coney Island and Far Rockaway did not even reach 100 degrees! They reached 95 degrees instead it seems like. 13 degrees "colder" than Newark.
That is true that it was even hotter than actual temperature in places such as the inside of cars outside, sun heated pavement, inside places without air conditioning, and also the underground subway stations in New York City when not in an actual subway train.
When it was 104 degrees(low 100s) outside in New York City streets, it probably was 115 degrees for actual temperature inside the underground subway stations and in the low 110's. It definitely felt significantly hotter for me in the underground subway stations than above ground outside.
But the subways themselves are air conditioned at around 70 degrees even though the underground subway stations themselves are not and were probably in the low 110s today.
Yeah. Those are the reasons why Newark can get more hot than other areas of the metro area. I noticed for the past month almost every day Newark ends up being 4 to 6 degrees warmer than other areas of the NYC metro area most days, including today. It seems like most of the year Newark can be a bit warmer in general.
Most of New York City did hit 100 and higher today but Coney Island and Far Rockaway did not even reach 100 degrees! They reached 95 degrees instead it seems like. 13 degrees "colder" than Newark.
That is true that it was even hotter than actual temperature in places such as the inside of cars outside, sun heated pavement, inside places without air conditioning, and also the underground subway stations in New York City when not in an actual subway train.
When it was 104 degrees(low 100s) outside in New York City streets, it probably was 115 degrees for actual temperature inside the underground subway stations and in the low 110's. It definitely felt significantly hotter for me in the underground subway stations than above ground outside.
But the subways themselves are air conditioned at around 70 degrees even though the underground subway stations themselves are not and were probably in the low 110s today.
Yea, the platforms were hot too. However, I took Metro North and to be honest the trains were pretty cool. A lady next to me looked really bad, she said she was from London and had never been in this kind of heat before. I was worried she was going to faint or something. I gave her my extra water bottle ( I had three cool ones in my sack), and she seemed to be ok. They say the danger starts when you see the person has stopped sweating. I saw fools running (jogging) in the heat however
Just saw this on the NWS NYC/New Jersey/Connecticut site:
PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
558 PM EDT FRI JUL 22 2011
THE FOLLOWING ARE UNOFFICIAL OBSERVATIONS TAKEN DURING THE PAST 17
HOURS (SINCE MIDNIGHT TODAY). THIS SUMMARY IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON OUR
HOME PAGE AT WEATHER.GOV/NYC
...FAIRFIELD COUNTY...
BRIDGEPORT AIRPORT 103 7/22 TIES THE ALL TIME
HIGH SET BACK ON
7/22/1957. PREVIOUS
RECORD ON THIS DATE
WAS 96 BACK IN 1998.
...NEW HAVEN COUNTY...
MERIDEN 102 7/22
...NEW LONDON COUNTY...
GROTON 95 7/22
NEW JERSEY
...BERGEN COUNTY...
TETERBORO 104 7/22
...ESSEX COUNTY...
NEWARK AIRPORT 108 7/22 BREAKS THE ALL
TIME HIGH OF
105 SET BACK ON
8/5/2001. PREVIOUS
RECORD ON
THIS DATE WAS
101 BACK IN 1957.
CALDWELL 103 7/22
NEW YORK
...NASSAU COUNTY...
FARMINGDALE 102 7/22
...NEW YORK COUNTY...
CENTRAL PARK 104 7/22 TIES THE 2ND WARMEST
DAY. PREVIOUS
RECORD ON THIS DATE
WAS 101 BACK IN 1957.
IF THE
TEMPERATURE DOES
NOT DROP BELOW
84 BEFORE MIDNIGHT
IT WILL TIE AN ALL
TIME RECORD
MAXIMUM LOW
TEMPERATURE.
...ORANGE COUNTY...
MONTGOMERY 99 7/22
...QUEENS COUNTY...
NYC/JFK AIRPORT 103 7/22 THE PREVIOUS RECORD
WAS 98 SET
BACK IN 1998.
NYC/LA GUARDIA 103 7/22 THE PREVIOUS RECORD
WAS 101 SET BACK IN
1957.
...SUFFOLK COUNTY...
ISLIP 100 7/22 THE PREVIOUS RECORD
WAS 96 SET
BACK IN 1998.
If anything I'd say Newark is more representative of the ACTUAL conditions in the immediate NYC area, Central Park is a big PARK which is cooler than surrounding areas, LaGuardia and JFK are airports that sit along the water which cools them down somewhat. This isn't ALWAYS true as but I feel it generally is about 70% of the time. The immediate NYC area overall is not heavily wooded like Central Park, nor is it a few feet from water like LaGuardia and JFK. Newark's conditions are probably more similar to the conditions felt by the vast majority of people in the area. I actually wouldn't be surprised if parts of super duper urban Manhattan eclipsed Newark's 108.
Today I almost got to 107 (106.7), I don't live in a forest or at a beach. I don't even live in a super urban area [urban-suburban hybrid-ish-like] and it got this high. Today was a record breaking day across the board though, Central Park hitting 104 is a remarkable "achievement", I was shocked that it even happened because it takes soooooo much for that place to heat up it seems, I didn't even think Newark would get passed it's [former] all time high of 105.
This was just one of those days where everything, everywhere, and everyone was HOT.
These are all really good answers but what I'm most wondering is why this wasn't true until about 30 years ago? Newark's not an area that massively grew/expanded like Phoenix or LA (where for almost that reason alone they warmed in the last 50 years a lot more than other places). If it were always true, I wouldn't have either posted this thread because all those factors would've been pretty obvious to me.
Another example I should've noted in my OP that may give you more of an idea. The last 104 in Central Park was on July 21, 1977. Newark was "only" 102, not 108 that day!
Quote:
Originally Posted by wavehunter007
Very true. That’s the big reason Newark is always the top hot spot in the Tri-State/East Coast region…they are at the very center of an urban area of 25 – million people, with nothing but brick, steel, and pavement. Still, NYC, Philly, DC were not far off, they all hit 100 F or higher today. Also, where geographically the "peak heat" occurs, is composed of many different things (current wind direction, cloud cover, duration of cloud cover…etc). It’s not simply based on NWS station location. One time the peak heat is centred in one spot, the next time it might be centered in another. Almost all the NWS stations today in the Tri-State/Middle Atlantic had less than 8 F between their daily highs...so the difference is not all that large in any event.
What scares me is if the temp was record at 108 F…inside a shaded intrument shelter 3 feet off the ground (the NOAA standard instrument housing)…imagine what pavement temps on I-95 near Newark International Airport were in the midday sun ! 115, 125 F ?
Wow.
Well, I was watching the Yankees game on TV last night (played at home) and they noted that there was no batting practice, etc. (just "the game" itself) because they recorded a 120-deg reading on the field, that that's grass, not pavement, so it should give an idea. There are already lots of videos out there of people baking/cooking off their cars hoods and dashboards (even Accu-Weather did this with cookies in their HQ lot in State College, PA).
Yes, the other areas weren't exactly "cold" but this was 4+ degrees higher than any other nearby "major" weather station......and only one/two stations within hundreds of miles of it even came close (BWI airport was 106 and Baltimore Inner Harbor, their equivalent of the "Central Park" station in NY was 107). That's what has me somewhat suspect, see some of my other examples to show that this was not always true, but if I were to quote hot days from about the early 80s on, it is almost always true then (for example, in addition to 2001, there were several 105s at Newark in the early-mid 1990s, for most of them, the other areas stations barely or didn't even crack 100), it's far from the first time this issue has happened.
I mean maybe it was just an unusual day, I think Bridgeport, CT going from 95 to their all-time high of 103 suddenly in 1 hour yesterday was freaky too; but unlike that, this has happened many times before but is not consistent with the entire weather history of the station, so I don't know.
NWS website if you look at the "3 day history" of the station, can see that most are now below their highs for the day. Newark still the warmest but not as big a spread. Highs for day so far:
Central Park - 100 (ties daily record set in 1955)
JFK Airport - 100 (ties daily record set in 1972)
LaGuardia - 98 (but this is current temp so could still be higher....daily record is 100 in 1955)
Newark - 102 (breaks daily record of 100 in 1955)
Interestingly, it was much cooler to the north, Bridgeport CT only at 89 (current high for day), White Plains at 89 and "only" got to 92.
I notice the same thing in the averages with London Heathrow. Its consistantly above the other Central and West London Stations.
Take its 1971-2000 July average high; 23.1c, vs nearby Wisley average high, 22.5c, or just 22.3c at London Weather Centre.
Or the average high of July 2006, a warm month, was 28.2c at Heathrow, but 27.9c at nearby Northolt.
Records only go back to 1948 for Heathrow, but go back further and (west) London Typically didnt even average the warmest highs for the UK - 1931-60 Kew average July high 21.7c, 1931-60 Cambridge (60 miles north of London) average July high 22.2c. I suspect the lower severn valley is also warmer than the London area, too.
All these may only be a few tenths of a degree, but there is definetly a trend - I tend to think very busy airports have their own microclimate and should be used with caution, during summer at least.
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