The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
LOUISVILLE’S HISTORY OF HEAT
Recent high temps pale next to summers past
Louisville’s start to summer 2024 was marked by a warm and sticky heat often reaching into the upper 90s by the afternoon, but how does the mid-June latest heat wave stack up against Louisville’s other summer extremes? ● July and August are typically Louisville’s warmest months, data from the National Weather Service shows, and the Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-average temperatures for those months in 2024. ● Want to keep track of whether any of Louisville’s hot weather records were broken? Here are the ones you should keep on your radar.
What was Louisville’s hottest day? What was the highest low temperature ever recorded in the city?
The warmest temperature ever documented in Louisville was 107 degrees, which the National Weather Service recorded on:
● July 24, 1901
● July 28, 1930
● July 14, 1936
On Aug. 19, 1936, the temperature in Louisville fell no less than 84 degrees, a record still standing.
What was Louisville’s hottest year?
2023 was the warmest year on record in Louisville, according to a list from the National Weather Service. Louisville’s average temperature in 2023 was 61 degrees, edging the previous record of 60.8 set back in 2012.
What was Louisville’s hottest summer?
The summer of 2010 was a particularly warm season in Louisville, with a daily average temperature of 82.3 degrees, according to a chart from the National Weather Service. 1936, 2011 and 2016 also surpassed the 80-degree mark.
Is 2024 Louisville’s warmest June on record?
As of Tuesday, June 2024 is on pace to be the 16thwarmest June on record.
Despite a “heat dome” sticking around for more than a week. the early days of the month were colder than usual, limiting any chance to surpass 2010’s daily average of 81.1 degrees, said Michael Kochasic, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Louisville.
Could more records for heat break in the coming years?
Extreme heat as a result of human-caused climate change continues to be more common globally, according to a report from USA TODAY. In Louisville, summer temperatures are on average 3.5 degrees warmer than they were in 1970, The Courier Journal previously reported.
“With these current trends, warm weathers seasons could grow to be more extreme in the future,”, Kochasic said. “We could certainly see some records broken.”