If it seems like this summer has been hotter than you've remembered it being in summers past, you're not wrong.
AccuWeather.com recently reported that 4,313 record high temperatures were reached across the country in July, with 171 of those records being "the all-time highest temperatures ever observed," AccuWeather.com Meteorologist Anthony Sagliani wrote in his report.
"Temperatures during the night were also among the highest ever observed, with a sweaty 3,545 record warmest nights over the course of the month," Sagliani added.
Sagliani noted that the jet stream is to blame for these record high temperatures.
"Unusually strong high pressure developed over much of the central part of the nation, an area where crops have been withering for months," he wrote. "This high pressure developed over much of the central part of the nation, and there was virtually no chance of rain. Additionally, since there was no rain and less moisture for the sun's energy to evaporate, most of the power went into heating the ground, and the result was weeks of searing heat."
The average high temperature in Chicago was 91.5 degrees, according to the National Weather Service office in Chicago. That average temperature is 7.4 degrees above normal. The average low temperature, 70.6 degrees, is 6.7 degrees above normal.
Overall, with day and night temperatures figured in, the average high was 7.1 degrees above normal at 81.1 degrees.
"This makes July 2012 the third-warmest on record since 1871," according to the National Weather Service.
Five records were set in Chicago in July, including on July 4, when the city tied its previous July 4 record of 102 degrees.
Even the air temperatures over Lake Michigan have broken records. The National Weather Service office in Chicago reported that the air temperature at the southern Lake Michigan mid-lake buoy hit 85.1 degrees at about 1 a.m. July 26. The temperature broke "the all-time record warm air temperature ever recorded at the south buoy." The previous record was 84.5 degrees, set on Aug. 18, 1988.
The National Weather Service added that water temperatures in Lake Michigan are also running at about 5-6 degrees above average.
How is August shaping up? The average high overall in August in Chicago is 81.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The forecast highs this week are above that overall high average: 89 degrees for Aug. 2; 91 degrees for Aug. 3; and 92 degrees for Aug. 4. Temperatures are forecast to be in the low 80s Aug. 5 and 6.
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