The hottest June, ever

May 2019 around the middle of its second decade, stood a chance of being the coldest since 1991. Eventually, thanks to lack of incidences of extreme cold (no frost, +1.1C on 6 May was the coldest moment of the previous month) and after reasonably warm third decade, the mean temperature stood at +13.5C, not much short of the long-term (1981-2010) average of +14.0C.

The first days of June brought the first whiff of proper summer, long awaited after spring deficient in warmth we had got accustomed to in previous years. Day-time highs over the first decade of the month did not reach +30C. The first incidence of heat was recorded on 11 June. The month saw in total 8 days with temperature exceeding +30C (beating the yearly norm by 60%). Over the entire month the temperature did not fall below +12C. The heat waves were interspersed with just warmth…

The hotness reached its climax on 26 day of the month when June and all-time records were broken in several weather stations across Poland. In Warsaw the official meteo station on the fringes of Okęcie airport recorded +35.3C (thus the previous record set on 21 June 2000 of +35.1C was broken). Poland-wide record of +38.0C was also broken on that day, when +38.2C was measured in Radzyń, Wielkopolska. The heat eased off the day before yesterday and yesterday. I have made use of +12.1C dawn-time low yesterday to air out and cool down the dwelling and thanks to this I have enjoyed mere +24C inside, while outside temperature soared again to +35C (precisely it topped at +35.2C)

As I write this post, full-month temperature data lack the last 5 hours, but with a sufficient dose of certainty I might say the temperature averaged out +22.9C, which makes it the hottest June since records began (well ahead of June 1917 whose mean temperature ran at +20.4C) and the third hottest month in Warsaw since records began, after July 2006 (+23.5C) and August 2015 (+23.0C).

The current decade has been abundant in incidences of record-breaking heat and near-misses in that respect in Warsaw…

29 April 2012, +30.4C, when temperature peaked above +30C for the first time in April

8 August 2013, +37.0C, all-time heat record in Warsaw

21 March 2014, +22.4C, short of +23.0C March heat record

1 September 2015, +34.9C, new September heat record set

23 December 2015, +14.4C, short of +15.0C December heat record.

2 November 2018, +19.2C, new November heat record set.

If the global warming (no matter if the mankind has caused or has just contributed to inevitable natural trend) is not halted, heat waves will be more frequent and will last longer, making our lives more miserable… The climate is akin to a pot of water. While it gets hotter it begins to swirl. The same happens to the weather. Anomalous events, such as heat waves, droughts, floods, cold snaps, blizzards will get more frequent. In terms of precipitation and temperatures we will see higher deviations from the mean, weather events will go into different extremes on different continents…

Short-term hope lies in long-term forecasts. July and August are predicted to be colder than June and near long-term average, which gives some hope for a nice warm, yet not sultry summer.