Nearly three inches of rain fell on the city the past few days. That's enough to erase about a third of the rainfall deficit that has accumulated since this spring, but that deficit is climbing once again as no rain is expected until Friday. South Carolina, meanwhile, has seen catastrophic flooding as more than a foot of rain fell over a wide portion of the state and some locations near Charleston reporting more than two feet of rain in three days.
Here in New York we can expect temperatures to rebound to the mid 60s this afternoon to near 70 tomorrow as a big high pressure system dominates the weather over the northeastern US. The temperature should peak in the lower 70s on Wednesday, before dropping back to near 70 for the remainder of the work week. A low pressure system will drag a cold front across the area on Friday, possibly bringing a few showers but probably not the thunderstorms the Weather Channel is oddly predicting. As of now the weather for Columbus Day weekend looks pretty good, with fair skies and temperatures in the mid 60s.
September has never been warmer
Now that all the rainfall excitement is over let's take a quick look back at September's record-breaking temperatures. The temperature reached 90 degrees on six days last month, peaking at 97 on the 8th. Nineteen of the thirty days warmed to at least 80 and only one day, the 14th, was cooler than normal. That consistent warmth throughout the month resulted in a record temperature of 74.5 degrees, a full degree warmer than the old record set in 1961. Coming on the heels of the third warmest August on record, 2015 is now warmer than the long-term average and has almost caught up to the 30-year climate normal, something one wouldn't have expected after the unending cold of last winter.
