Hillsboro, Ohio hasn’t had a 100 degree day in over 60 years, but prior to 1960 they were fairly common. In 1895, they had ten 100 degree days, including eight in September. On this date in 1895, it was 104 degrees – twenty five degrees warmer than today’s forecast maximum.
ftp://ftp.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/ghcn/daily/hcn/USC00333758.dly
To show this was not a fluke, Washington, DC went 96, 94, 96, 98, 98 from September 19-23, 1895. All records that still stand. Yet now every month is the hottest on record and every year is the hottest on record.
As a kid I remember those 100 degree days while living north of NYC in the early 1960s. I was horse mad and we were not allowed to ride during our riding lessons if the temperature went over 100F. We could not even get the horses to cool out and had to hand graze under the trees because they all broke out in stall sweat in the afternoons.
I haven’t had my equines breakout in stall sweat since 2004 and I now live 490 miles as the crow flies south of that area in New York.
North-eastern Florida was home to a thriving citrus industry in the late 19th Century. Today? Not so much. All the orchards have moved about 100 miles south. The climate of Florida shifted and today the former NE orchard locations get several hard freezes (lower 20’s F) each winter. There are homes with small micro-climates that still produce an orange tree — but the commercial orchards are 100 years in the past.
Probably more than 100 miles south, from the Jacksonville area to south of Orlando. The groves north of Orlando were wiped out from the mega-freezes of the 1980’s.
Georgia used to have a thriving citrus industry, until climate change ended that, it’s all in the record books.
NOAA Online Weather Data shows 2012 had two 100 degree days for Hillsboro OH
http://w2.weather.gov/climate/xmacis.php?wfo=iln
It also shows 15 100 or higher days for 1885
But it also shows how rare they have become.
Interesting. I am doing the comparison vs. 38C which is 100.4F, so I am missing days that came in right at 100F. Good catch.
No problem. I do a lot of fact checking on stories using the NOW data. If you make it Tmax > 100 then the numbers match, which makes sense now.
http://flcitrusmutual.com/render.aspx?p=/industry-issues/weather/freeze_timeline.aspx
Looks like the climate for the southeast turned deadly cold in 1835. Hard to imagine growing citrus in South Carolina today.
Great info, thanks. I guess just because commercial growers left, doesn’t mean you can’t still grow citrus.
It is not easy to grow citrus in South Carolina. You have to insulate and tarp the trees using a wire cage as McKenzie explains. The tree from colonial times is what I found fascinating.
The above should read “15 100 degree or higher days for 1895”, which of course matches the year of the heat wave.
Reblogged this on Climate Collections and commented:
Interesting comments to this post on So Carolina citrus and C vs F temp data analysis.