Sunday in D.C. was the hot, humid eve of half-year day
2024-06-30T21:54:00.283ZSunday could be regarded as one of the landmarks of the calendar. It was the eve of Half-Year Day, and in the District, the weather seemed to rise to the occasion, offering up great helpings of summertime heat and humidity.Clouds seemed to subdue the temperature for a time in D.C. However, on a day so close to the start of the year’s second half, it seemed that thermal fireworks could not forever be suppressed. The high reading for the city was 97 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.That was hot for any day in the District. It was fourth-hottest here this month, which has seen readings of 99 and 100. It was eight degrees above the average high for June 30. It was only three below the record for the date, which is 100.Nor could Sunday’s temperature be dismissed as a dry sort of heat. It was anything but, as figures showed. At various afternoon hours the heat index resided in the triple digit range. Sometimes it stood at 102, other times, 103.That index, often called the feels-like temperature, suggests the added burden imposed on daily life when high humidity joins with elevated temperatures in the seeming interest of greater misery.Of course, it is not only the heat index that gauges the contribution of humidity to summertime discomfort. Another is the dew point. It indicates how heavily laden the air may be with water vapor.At times on Sunday, Washington registered dew points of 75 degrees, or 76 and even 77.Those are uncommonly high and uncomfortable readings, suggestive of an atmosphere brimming with moisture.Those readings suggest that the air could not be counted on to keep things tolerable by helping perspiration to evaporate. At such dew point levels, weather specialists do not object to describing the day as “miserable.”In all, three or four numbers seemed important in characterizing Sunday. The temperature, of course, and the humidity markers too.But it is also significant that Sunday can justifiably by appeal to the figures, be described as the year’s midpoint.After all, Sunday was the 182nd day of this leap year. Monday will be the 183rd, and after Monday, 183 days remain in 2024.Sunday, then, the last day of June and the last day in the year’s first half, seemed by itself a day to be noted, no matter what its conditions. But here in the capital, blazing heat and fearsome humidity may have made it even more memorable.
admin
Sunday could be regarded as one of the landmarks of the calendar. It was the eve of Half-Year Day, and in the District, the weather seemed to rise to the occasion, offering up great helpings of summertime heat and humidity.
Clouds seemed to subdue the temperature for a time in D.C. However, on a day so close to the start of the year’s second half, it seemed that thermal fireworks could not forever be suppressed. The high reading for the city was 97 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
That was hot for any day in the District. It was fourth-hottest here this month, which has seen readings of 99 and 100. It was eight degrees above the average high for June 30. It was only three below the record for the date, which is 100.
Nor could Sunday’s temperature be dismissed as a dry sort of heat. It was anything but, as figures showed. At various afternoon hours the heat index resided in the triple digit range. Sometimes it stood at 102, other times, 103.
That index, often called the feels-like temperature, suggests the added burden imposed on daily life when high humidity joins with elevated temperatures in the seeming interest of greater misery.
Of course, it is not only the heat index that gauges the contribution of humidity to summertime discomfort. Another is the dew point. It indicates how heavily laden the air may be with water vapor.
At times on Sunday, Washington registered dew points of 75 degrees, or 76 and even 77.
Those are uncommonly high and uncomfortable readings, suggestive of an atmosphere brimming with moisture.
Those readings suggest that the air could not be counted on to keep things tolerable by helping perspiration to evaporate. At such dew point levels, weather specialists do not object to describing the day as “miserable.”
In all, three or four numbers seemed important in characterizing Sunday. The temperature, of course, and the humidity markers too.
But it is also significant that Sunday can justifiably by appeal to the figures, be described as the year’s midpoint.
After all, Sunday was the 182nd day of this leap year. Monday will be the 183rd, and after Monday, 183 days remain in 2024.
Sunday, then, the last day of June and the last day in the year’s first half, seemed by itself a day to be noted, no matter what its conditions. But here in the capital, blazing heat and fearsome humidity may have made it even more memorable.
