Weather Blog

Past summer was...slightly satisfying?

By Scott Sistek Published: Nov 25, 2009 at 6:00 AM PDT Last Updated: Jan 14, 2013 at 5:59 PM PDT

Past summer was...slightly satisfying? — By YouNews contributor brannman4

With all the gloomy rain of the past month, a lot of people could use some sunshine.

But since the long range forecast is still kinda wet, how about we take a trip down memory lane to sunnier times?

As he has done with past winters and summers for us, David Obelcz has compiled this past summer's Summer Satisfaction Index.

Here are his notes on this year's score:

"Ready for some controversy! The 2009 SSI is pretty darn average. I’ve been digging through the data because I would have guessed, “above average, maybe top ten,” so pretty surprised to see it come in lower than I thought. The days scores do go down if the temp goes over 85, and there is an additional penalty for our rare days over 95. The 103 degree day gets no added weight, I never built the model to consider temps over 100 degrees (but hey, can I get credit for putting it at 95).

We did have a number of days that came in with a trace of rain, which lowers the score. But I suspect that trace of rain probably came at night or early morning with a marine layer that burned off with the day, and most people never saw a drop of rain on those days. Anyway, the score is below. 1967 remains our best summer ever."

(P.S. For those who love this kind of index, I had forgotten this past spring to update our "Barbecue Index" score. This year scored a 33 -- not too hot. That's tied for 94th out of 116.)

YEAR

SUMMER SATISFACTION SCORE

1967

838.89

2003

829.69

1958

819.91

1989

815.06

1994

812.21

1987

806.86

1998

803.96

1991

790.81

1961

787.41

2006

774.22

2007

773.30

1984

771.30

1990

767.79

1970

766.55

1950

765.72

1995

761.69

1951

760.93

1979

759.24

1974

759.00

2002

758.14

2005

755.31

1986

753.28

1988

753.26

1969

752.99

1997

748.43

1992

748.03

1985

747.53

2009

746.83

1965

743.42

1981

741.03

1972

737.87

2004

735.09

1975

733.06

AVERAGE

730.36

2008

729.06

1996

728.43

1999

727.87

2000

722.41

2001

720.20

1971

717.24

1977

714.14

1976

712.90

1966

712.73

1982

711.17

1973

705.47

1963

699.57

1983

699.27

1968

693.42

1993

691.28

1960

683.18

1949

682.84

1978

681.09

1956

679.79

1962

676.64

1957

673.91

1953

673.42

1980

673.06

1952

666.32

1959

656.57

1964

638.19

1955

614.83

1948

611.30

1954

566.96

More to Explore

Send Feedback

Powered by Livefyre

About Scott Sistek

Meteorologist

Recent Posts

Weather (New) Intense thunderstorm upstages cruise ship entertainment (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 23, 2013 at 9:55 AM PDT

It's not often entertainment on board a cruise ship can be upstaged but on this particular night, Mother Nature gave it a shot.

Make that, several shots...

I took this video as the Disney Fantasy sailed into the Gulf of Mexico on May 1 just hours after it left a very hot and muggy Cozumel, Mexico.

(How hot? I went back and checked when I got home and it was 86 degrees with a 73 degree dew point that evening. Or as this Seattleite said: About 3 degrees cooler than molten lava. Though I'm sure many of the Florida residents on the ship probably thought it was a bit chilly.)

Weather Brrr! Seattle, Portland briefly tied for coldest major city in lower 48

By Scott Sistek Published: May 22, 2013 at 11:37 AM PDT Last Updated: May 22, 2013 at 1:08 PM PDT

Does it feel a bit like January out there today? Your skin does not deceive you.

A cold system from the Gulf of Alaska has settled into the Pacific Northwest, bringing not only a steady winter-like rain but has kept temperatures stuck in the 40s(!) through the late morning.

In fact, at 11 a.m., Seattle was stuck at 46 degrees -- about the average high for mid January. It's so cold in the Northwest that Seattle and Portland were tied as the coldest major cities in the lower 48 states -- and it wasn't even close! (Boise was at 50. Anchorage was also at 46. If we do lower our population threshold for "major city", Spokane checks in at 41.)

Portland would gradually take the trophy by itself as Seattle later warmed into the low 50s as Portland remained stuck in the mid 40s.

Weather How tornado victims got 36 minutes of precious warning time (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 21, 2013 at 12:18 PM PDT Last Updated: May 22, 2013 at 10:43 AM PDT

Thirty-six minutes.

That might not seem very long -- roughly about the time it takes to wade through your hourly drama if you blaze through commercials. But compared to a few decades ago, 36 minutes of time might have saved countless lives during the devastating tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.

Years ago, the residents of Moore would have likely had no idea the tornado was coming until the twister was sighted, giving people barely a few minutes' notice. But thanks to advancements in technology, tornadoes rarely sneak up on anyone anymore.

In fact, forecasters as early as Wednesday began sounding the alarm for a potential severe weather breakout on Sunday and Monday. And, on Friday, the forecasts became more specific. On Monday, a Tornado Watch, which indicates conditions are right for tornadic development, was issued at 1:10 p.m. for much of Oklahoma, including the greater Oklahoma City area.

Weather "What does ''EF-4'' mean?' and other tornado questions answered

By Scott Sistek Published: May 20, 2013 at 4:10 PM PDT

With tornadoes in the news lately I figured it'd be a good time to post answers to some frequently asked questions about the powerful storms:

What does "EF-4" mean?

WIth the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, you'll be hearing a lot of about "EF" ratings -- that's from the Enhanced Fujita Scale that rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the strongest.

The Moore tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-4 ("Devastating") with estimated tornadic wind speeds of up to 200 mph, although many are thinking that rating could be increased to an EF-5 ("Incredible") once more damage assessment is done.

Sadly, it's not the first time Moore has had to deal with such a catastrophic storm. On May 3, 1999, Moore was struck by an EF-5 tornado which recorded the strongest wind speed ever registered near Earth's surface. this map provided by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma shows just how close the two tracks were.

Weather Northern Lights peek out in Eastern Washington (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 18, 2013 at 9:57 AM PDT Last Updated: May 19, 2013 at 12:55 AM PDT

As we mentioned in the blog Thursday, there's a particularly active sunspot on the sun right now.

It had, as its opening salvo while starting to face the Earth, unleashed a moderately strong solar flare that reached us late Friday, triggering a display of the Northern Lights that reached as far south as Colorado.

Most Popular