The Current Heat Wave in Historical Context
Using defining characteristics of consecutive 90 F days, plus a minimum duration of 8 days I have ranked the historical summer Heat Waves in the Twin Cities based on mean temperature over their duration. I included June 28th of the current period (though the high was 88 degrees F). The list below defines 14 such period in our climate records, with the current period ranking 4th. Let's hope it is the only one of the summer!
Historical Heat Waves in Minneapolis/St Paul which lasted at least 8 days and delivered daytime highs of 90 degrees F or greater. Ranked by Mean Temperature Value for their duration.
7/5/1936 to 7/18/1936 14 days 88.6 degrees F
7/21/1941 to 7/28/1941 8 days 85.3 degrees F
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7/28/1955 to 8/4/1955 8 days 84.7 degrees F
6/27/2012 to 7/6/2012 10 days 84.3 degrees F
7/23/2006 to 7/31/2006 9 days 84.2 degrees F
7/5/1937 to 7/13/1937 9 days 83.9 degrees F
7/2/1948 to 7/12/1948 11 days 83.6 degrees F
7/9/2005 to 7/17/2005 9 days 83.6 degrees F
7/25/1935 to 8/1/1935 8 days 83.6 degrees F
6/29/1949 to 7/7/1949 9 days 83.5 degrees F
7/12/1932 to 7/20/1932 9 days 83.3 degrees F
7/26/1988 to 8/3/1988 9 days 82.9 degrees F
6/16/1995 to 6/23/1995 8 days 79.9 degrees F
8/3/1896 to 8/10/1896 8 days 79.6 degrees F
Current period ranks 4th