July: Bringin’ The Heat? Not So Much

We all know the expression, “hotter than July” unless you live in the Southern Hemisphere where I guess it would be “hotter than January.”

By the way, side note here, we were once visiting a family in Austin, Texas that had befriended our daughter while she was serving in the area. They told us of one year in Austin where the temperature hit 100 degrees in January - and stayed there until the following fall!

Anyway, having just completed our typical hottest month of the year, I thought I would see how July, 2022 compared to the rest. I remember it was hot, and that our air conditioner was coming on in the middle of the night even though we have our thermostat is set at a much higher threshold through the night. So, this had to be the hottest July we've ever seen in Utah, right? Nope, not even top 5.

Down The Rabbit Hole

I apparently had a lot of time on my hands and decided to track down some information on July's heat here in Utah. Have you ever been to the National Centers for Environmental Information section of the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) website? Neither had I. And there is a plethora of information one can (and in my case did) wade through on the way to find out the answer to the question “how hot was it in Utah this July?” Well with lots of time, and diminishing patience, the website had some answers.

Statewide

While Salt Lake City reported it's hottest July on record, the rest of the state had little interest in following suit. According to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental information, Climate at a Glance: Statewide Time Series, published August 2022, Utah's July was only the sixth warmest on record with an average temperature of 75.3 degrees. That was 3.8 degrees above the mean July temperature. Utah's record high July temperature was set in July of 2003 when the average temperature was 77.2 degrees.

Iron Clad Numbers

Because I just couldn't stop myself, I went farther into the data and found I could look at each county. Here in Iron County, we barely made it in to the top ten for warmest July's (9^th warmest). The average temperature in Iron County in July was 73.6. Like the rest of the state our hottest July in Iron County was in 2003. The coolest July in Iron County was back in 1912 when the average temperature was 65.9

Hell....er Washington County

In Washington County, where it's not really considered hot until bridges start to buckle, July was a relative cake walk, in fact not even in the top ten. July 2022 was Washington County's 11^th warmest July (by the way don't you love that the report refers to this as “warmest”? It's July in the desert....it's hot). The July average temperature was 80.1 in Washington County. It also had its warmest (I know hottest) July in 2003 with an average temperature of 82.2. The coolest July in Washington County? Also 1912 with a bone chilling average temperature of 72.2

Read On If You Dare

If you're looking for something even more likely to put you to sleep than reading the Book of Isaiah, you're welcome to plod through the entire NOAA report here. Good luck. Leave a phone number.

More fun facts: