The Warmest Day of the Year

Today is 2007 July 22. I found that our weather forecast here in Richmond was pleasant. A high in the 80s and lows this morning in the refreshing 50s, a rarity at this time of the year. It is summer. I looked up seasonal averages in Weather Underground. The graphs are neat in that they include normal and record highs and lows, and also a vertical line across the present date. Today this line is right in the middle of the summer high. We are at the warmest day of the year on the average. Today is the Weather Summer Solstice. After today, it is all downhill. Since January, the temperatures have been increasing; it has been getting warmer. Now it will get colder, as the already shortening days begin to be felt. It will be only slightly cooler in August, but in September, the really pleasant weather will begin, followed by winter.

It is not the peak of summer in all places. In Fairbanks, Alaska, it has already occurred in early July. In San Francisco, it will not be at the warmest until September. That is because September contains the Marine Summer Solstice, and San Franscisco weather is heavily influenced by the adjacent ocean. But here it is at the peak. And now the long downhill begins.