Louisville, KY

Picture by jazza- www.sxc.hu/ 747954

Yesterday was officially the first day of autumn, but it felt like a typical summer day. According to the Weather Channel the official temperature was 94 degrees, which broke the current record of 93 degrees that was set in 1891. The average temperature for this time of year is 77 degrees and the record low is 39 degrees that was set in 1995.

I was outside at soccer and kickball games for a good portion of the weekend, and most people were remarking that this was the hottest first day of fall that they could remember. Although I find that people tend to exaggerate when it comes to weather and money, this time they were correct- at least about the weather.

I researched temperature data from the Kentucky Hourly Weather Observations website for Louisville. This past Sunday was indeed the hottest September 23rd in the last ten years. It also did not help that it was humid and very sunny.

9/23/1997 67deg
9/23/1998 74deg
9/23/1999 81deg
9/23/2000 79deg
9/23/2001 84deg
9/23/2002 74deg
9/23/2003 84deg
9/23/2004 89deg
9/23/2005 89deg
9/23/2006 71deg
9/23/2007 94deg

Luckily it looks like we will only have to endure one more day of high temperatures. Tomorrow the high is forecasted at 92 degrees, but then Wednesday temperatures should decrease to 82 degrees with a 50% chance of thunderstorms. Rain would be a great relief since it has been such a dry summer. The rest of the week shows temperatures being in the high-seventies to low-eighties. Hopefully October will bring more fall-like weather so we are all not wearing shorts on Halloween.

Maybe the hot weather is just a fluke and maybe it is the effects of global warming, but I really hope that we have a fall season this year. Part of what I love about Louisville is that we normally have four distinct seasons, so until fall truly come try to keep cool.

Picture by bodgie- www.sxc.hu/ 700513

Louisville weather, First Day of Autumn, Temperature Record