Normally this time of year I'm comparing hot temperatures with my fellow moderators, but with the exception of three days last week when we caught the edge of the insane Texas heat wave, we've been really cool this summer. Yesterday's high was (wait for it.....) 76F. Several thunderstorms kept rolling through keeping the air nice and cool. Of course the tradeoff is that now it's really humid. 

Generally our hottest weeks of the year are the last couple of July and first couple of August, so we still have plenty of time for it to heat up. 

Nice that you have had a cooler summer this year, fantasia. We have also have had an unusual July, with much more rain than typical for this summer month in Ontario. Everything is ultra-lush and vibrant. These pretty cloudy days make the vivid colours of the many flowers and plants all the more beautiful, as the scenes are not distorted by sun and shadows. We are so grateful for all this precipitation, as are the numerous farmers around our county.

I have even been able to early-morning-walk a few times this month, which is wonderful and unexpected. We do not miss in the least three-week stretches of hot, dry July weather.   And the forecast looking in to next week has rain off and on most days. However, that brings with it the growth of garden weeds so we need to keep on top of those! Just got caught up the other day, and will keep at it, as weather permits. The gardens are looking beautiful, fresh, and radiant.

July is nearly half over, so, yeah, bring on August (when the gradually shortening days become more noticeable) ... then the glorious Autumn!

@johobbit: Nice that you have had a cooler summer this year, fantasia. We have also have had an unusual July, with much more rain than typical for this summer month in Ontario. 

I've been hearing about huge heat waves right around the Northern Hemisphere, from UK, through the whole Eurasian continent, over to North America from West to East. I hope the worst is over, for you, though judging by yours & fantasia's comments, it might not be as bad as what we have been hearing. I'm glad to hear that it has been raining sufficiently in Ontario & in Kansas. 

Someone in the Press asked why Heatwaves cause so much comment, while hardly anything is said about "Freezewaves". Whilst temperatures can be reasonable at midday, we are still getting 6.AM frosty 0 degrees Celsius temperatures, like we got yesterday morning. Fantasia's "76 degrees F" seems quite a pleasant & reasonable sort of day by midday. Yes, August is a time when the weather does heat up in the South, & we start feeling the onslaught of that hot weather we were predicted to get. 

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

...though judging by yours & fantasia's comments, it might not be as bad as what we have been hearing.

That's not the case on the west coast of the US (North America?) And the Texas area. Phoenix Arizona has been trapped in this unbelievable heat dome for a while now and has a running record for days above 110F/43.3C. Next week we'll be joining them under the heat dome here in Kansas, but that doesn't surprise me as the last week of July/first week of August are generally our hottest here.

The heat will be on even this  far north, with highs over 95F/35C expected for several days next week. It may reach 100F/38C here, if the high humidity doesn't hold temperatures down (for comparison, 100F temps occur here once every 4 or 5 years, though we had one last year. I've probably experienced fewer than 20 of them in the last 60+ years - not counting travel to hotter climes).

We're in the hottest 2 weeks of the year, statistically, right now.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

Someone in the Press asked why Heatwaves cause so much comment, while hardly anything is said about "Freezewaves". Whilst temperatures can be reasonable at midday, we are still getting 6.AM frosty 0 degrees Celsius temperatures, like we got yesterday morning.

Those do get some attention around here in the winter (for example, the cold weather in Texas a few years back, or the occasional coverage of the "polar vortex").

0C sounds so refreshing right now...I'm reminded that our possible snow season begins only 54 days from now. 🙂

While stargazing in the evenings, I've noticed the crickets have begun calling. That's another sign that summer is soon to be on the wane. And the sun is setting before 9pm local daylight time, another indicator of shortening days.

The merest bit of frost this morning will be followed by rain for the next 48 hours. I hope the tides, drains, and the storage ponds slightly furtherv upstream, will all cooperate well to avoid having inconvenient flooding in our low-lying street.

Posted by: @waggawerewolf27

I've been hearing about huge heat waves right around the Northern Hemisphere, from UK, through the whole Eurasian continent, over to North America from West to East. I hope the worst is over, for you, though judging by yours & fantasia's comments, it might not be as bad as what we have been hearing. I'm glad to hear that it has been raining sufficiently in Ontario & in Kansas. ... we are still getting 6.AM frosty 0 degrees Celsius temperatures, 

While we have had hot, humid days here, this has not at all been a typical July for us. Cooler, overall, and much more rain. So grateful! Often we have had a stretch of a week+ (often 2-3 weeks) with very hot, humid, dry, parched weather, but not so this year. So, while many places might be receiving nasty record-setting heat waves, we have not.

Your frosty morning temperature sounds invigorating and refreshing!

Posted by: @fantasia

Next week we'll be joining them under the heat dome here in Kansas,

Posted by @stargazer

The heat will be on even this far north

Ditto here! The heat and humidity is ramping up throughout next week, peaking on Thursday, then gradually dropping again. Still, there looks to be a chance of thunderstorms nearly every day this coming week, so at least there is that. It's the days when that blazing sun is out for long stretches, with no clouds during the day or coolness at night for relief, every single day, and the temperatures here, including humidex, hover around 40C / 104F ... well, that gets to be very tricky to handle.  

This weekend has comfy temperatures (mid 20sC / mid 70sF), and a mixture of sun/clouds, with no precipitation in the forecast until early next week. This will give our fields, gardens, lawns a chance to dry out a bit from all the rain we have had. It is not usually until August that the (feed) corn is as very tall as it is now. Everything is lush and vibrant!

Posted by: @stargazer

0C sounds so refreshing right now...I'm reminded that our possible snow season begins only 54 days from now.

While stargazing in the evenings, I've noticed the crickets have begun calling. That's another sign that summer is soon to be on the wane. And the sun is setting before 9pm local daylight time, another indicator of shortening days.

Another  

@coracle, I sure hope your street doesn't flood. Stay safe and dry!  

@jo It has flooded, just the low corner where I live, affecting about 20 households. We've had 3 vehicles drive through it, one a neighbour (could have come the other way, less water), one two men in a large black SUV who thought they were clever to slow down and then accelerate, making a big wave over our gardens, and nearly splashing the children wading in gumboots (presumably showing off to them), and third an unknown modern thing that just drove directly through.
Neighbours across the road have flooded back yards, as they have the river behind them and it floods quickly as it's narrow there. Our water table is so high, any rain this winter has made our gardens sodden. But the houses are higher than the road, so we'll stay safe inside. (put in an apology for church activities today).

A loooot of rain this July. A hint of sun here and there. Something of a complete wash-out.

Encouraging hints in the weather forecasts, that the next few days might be fairly dry. Perhaps I can even bundle up and try a bit of gardening. And take myself for walks. 

So sorry to hear of the floods, @coracle. I hope these have subsided now. Crazy the way some people act/drive in situations like that. I hope you can enjoy some gardening and walks, coracle!

Posted by: @sir-cabbage

A loooot of rain this July. A hint of sun here and there.

Here too, Sir Cabbage! (Btw, I really like your username, and am curious as to the meaning behind it. ) Rain just keeps on coming. We may have a couple of sunny days, then the clouds return with downpours. Not complaining one little bit, as usually in July here everything is dry and even parched. Not this year! In fact, some days it has been so comfortable that I flung the windows wide open. We have not had to use our A/C nearly as much this July as has been typical previous years.

We just had yet more beautiful thunderstorms last night, and drizzly-type rain off-and-on today. Very hot, though, but that is going to change this weekend as more storms come through tomorrow evening. The temp will go from being hot-hot-hot and humid to even below seasonal. Yay! I will be able to get out and walk again in the early mornings, as nighttime temps are dropping to very near single digits Celsius. In fact, the rural hamlet where we are might even drop to 9°C!  

And with August around the corner, the later rising and earlier setting of the sun will begin to be more noticeable.   There will be days in August (especially from mid-late) when there will be a definite feel of Autumn in the air.  

Meanwhile, the latest Drought Monitor continues to show worsening conditions here, with some areas now in extreme drought (the second-highest level). But we've had significant rain in central Minnesota from those pop-up thunderstorms that are often common in high summer here, but have been very rare this year until now.

The past week has been hot by local standards, and yesterday was very toasty - the high was 96F/36C with a heat index exceeding 101F/38C. Definitely 'air you can wear'! It's almost pleasant outside now, after today's rain passed, with a very pleasant (seasonable) weekend on tap.

Yikes, stargazer, re the drought. I sure hope this is relieved soon for your area. And here, as I type, we are having yet another teaming thunderstorm (beautiful, long rolls) and high winds, the former of which are continuing some of tomorrow.

Today was very hot, but tomorrow night is dropping to 10 or 11C (50-52F), so, up and down, up and down. At this point it looks like the night of August 12-13 will be clear here for the Perseid meteor shower! Other than that night, rain off and on is expected over the next week, except for this Friday, which should be dry.

I just noted on our weather page that the sun is now rising 39 minutes after its earliest rising time.  

Last week's widespread rains did give an improvement to the drought; we're only in moderate drought here now. And the days are noticeably shorter now, with the sun setting 46 minutes earlier than it did back in June.

But summer's not over yet. After a few days near average, our temps heat up again for the weekend and all of next week, with highs exceeding 90F/32C and approaching 100F/38C...not to mention the heat index higher than that.

There is also a code red air quality alert (unsafe for all) for our entire state today and tomorrow as Canadian wildfire smoke returns to our skies.

The big dry we have been threatened with has been broken up with rainy days. Though the weather isn't as cold as it has been, Spring has not yet officially arrived, Down Under. I'm sorry to hear that Canada is still getting wildfires, which must be bad when smoke is getting into USA, as well. 

In our local news today, we've heard that the Hole in the Ozone layer, of the 1990's has opened up again, earlier than is usual, due to last year's Honga Tonga underwater volcanic eruption, sending water & steam into Earth's atmosphere.