Detroit's hot summer of '88...

[Al Publican]

I recall the summer of 1988 as seemingly the hottest for me over five decades of residing in Detroit. If I recall right, there was 10 or 12 days of 100F plus temperatures that summer. Several of my son's baseball games were postponed due to excessive heat.
How may 100F days were there in Detroit that summer and how does '88 rank among hot summers in Detroit going back to 1950?

[Henry Whalley]

I recall the summer of 1988 as seemingly the hottest for me over five decades of residing in Detroit. If I recall right, there was 10 or 12 days of 100F plus temperatures that summer. Several of my son's baseball games were postponed due to excessive heat.
How may 100F days were there in Detroit that summer and how does '88 rank among hot summers in Detroit going back to 1950?

Yeah, 1988 was hot. And there were lots of fleas at least in my neighborhood.

[Jimaz]

...the summer of 1988 as seemingly the hottest for me over five decades of residing in Detroit. If I recall right, there was 10 or 12 days of 100F plus temperatures that summer....

That would seem pretty remarkable. The Old Farmer's Almanac doesn't show any highs over 100°F during July and August of 1988. Could you be thinking of a different year?

[Kathleen]

This webpage for July 1988 Detroit weather might be of interest:
https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/...year-1988#july

July 16 we hit 102!

[Jimaz]

This webpage for July 1988 Detroit weather might be of interest:
https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/...year-1988#july

July 16 we hit 102!

OFA lists the "Maximum Temperature" on that date as 93.9°F although that's at "the Belle Isle Coast Gua MI USA Weather Station." I think the convention is to take airport temperatures as the official high.

Still, an 8°F difference. Hmm.

[Danny]

I remember that. Me and my family was sleeping in our cold damp Detroit old finished basement. A hot La Nina Summer under the large heat dome and a Omega Block.

[Ray1936]

Candy asses.
Temp right now in Las Vegas is 103. Which is just about normal for this time of day [[3:00 p.m. PDT). We frequently hit above 110 f. Record high is 118, and we've hit 117 numerous times.

However, if we didn't have home/car/business AC, I would have to call myself a candy ass also.

It cools down at night. Sometimes even down to 90 f.

That aside, it only rains 3.5 inches a year. I guess MI gets that in a day on occasion.

On the other hand, we were just back in metro Detroit last week and I found the humidity irritating. Humidity here today is at 5%, although we may have a major storm coming north from the Baja.

[Jimaz]

Here's a third source from Weather Underground at DTW that agrees with 102°F on July 16, 1988.

I like this user interface better. It can also show a full month of data.

[Jimaz]

...Record high is 118, and we've hit 117 numerous times....

I survived Phoenix's record high of 122°F On June 26, 1990. It was reportedly 123°F but, again, the airport's reading is considered official.

Driving home from work was surreal. It didn't just feel hot. It felt hot on a higher scale, very eerie. Exiting the freeway, I had to wait at a red light surrounded by concrete walls radiating heat onto cars from both sides as well as from below. The car's A/C couldn't keep up. Planes were grounded because nothing had ever been tested at those temperatures {or so they claimed}. Birds were grounded too. They just hopped around on the ground with their beaks wide open — very strange. Rear view mirrors fall off the windshield because the adhesive fails.

I am so happy to be back in Michigan!

• Phoenix hits record for 19th day of 110+ degrees in a row

[softailrider]

I remember that Summer well. I think we had 90 degree days in April. The house I lived in back then had a pool. We took the cover off and opened it up mid April. Hottest Summer ever.

[MikeM]

Aug 6 article:

[MikeM]

July 16:

[MikeM]

July 17:

[Henry Whalley]

Candy asses.
Temp right now in Las Vegas is 103.

Yeah, but like Hitler said to Stalin upon the latter's arrival in hell "It's a dry heat."

[Ray1936]

That hurricane off the Baja will cool us way down this weekend. We're also supposed to get a ton of rain. Should be interesting.

[stasu1213]

I remember the Summer of 88. It was on a Saturday when the temperature had gotten over 100 degrees. I was on a DDOT bus. The one that was a DSR carryover where the windows opens and that didn't have air. It was hot on the crowded bus. Also the grass on the shoulders of the freeways caught fire for it was so dry and hot

[sirrealone]

I remember 1988 well because it was the summer that I agreed to fill in for a paper route delivering the afternoon paper to a pretty big apartment complex near my house. I'd hop in the pool darn near every day when I was finished before biking back home.

2012 was another hot summer. It only hit 100 a couple of times but there was a stationary heat dome that gave us high 80s - mid 90s with brutal humidity for stretches of weeks at a time. That was also the year that ended cheap apples at local orchards. We hit the mid-80s in March, so the buds formed early, then got wiped out when the temps came down and everything froze. 90% of the crop was ruined, so they doubled prices, and of course they never lowered them back down in subsequent years when the yield returned to normal.

[stasu1213]

I remember 1988 well because it was the summer that I agreed to fill in for a paper route delivering the afternoon paper to a pretty big apartment complex near my house. I'd hop in the pool darn near every day when I was finished before biking back home.

2012 was another hot summer. It only hit 100 a couple of times but there was a stationary heat dome that gave us high 80s - mid 90s with brutal humidity for stretches of weeks at a time. That was also the year that ended cheap apples at local orchards. We hit the mid-80s in March, so the buds formed early, then got wiped out when the temps came down and everything froze. 90% of the crop was ruined, so they doubled prices, and of course they never lowered them back down in subsequent years when the yield returned to normal.

2011 and 2012 both had hot summers. However I do remember a day in 1995 where the temperature had reached 110. I had decided to go to a baseball game at the old Tiger Stadium to see if Fielder would knock one out of the stadium. That same day 500 people had died in high rises in Chicago due to lack of air conditioner and suffered heat exhaustion

[Wheels]

Might want to check thos memory banks.

https://www.clickondetroit.com/weath...20in%20Detroit.

[Gistok]

Off topic a bit... one of my Facebook friends... her son had a $1000 electric bill in Texas last month... mostly for A/C...

[LongGone06]

I remember the Summer of 88. It was on a Saturday when the temperature had gotten over 100 degrees. I was on a DDOT bus. The one that was a DSR carryover where the windows opens and that didn't have air. It was hot on the crowded bus. Also the grass on the shoulders of the freeways caught fire for it was so dry and hot

Yes, I remember one very hot Saturday leaving my office in the Dime Building/Chrysler House. Another building in that area—I think it was NBD—had a clock on the side of the building that showed the temperature. I remember being surprised because it was 102°.

[stasu1213]

Many vehicles driven by Detroiters including myself during that hot summer weren't equipped with air conditioners for they were much older 60s, 70s and early 80 model cars. Many sweated through sniffling heat blowing through cars windows while motorist either dressed for work or going out to clubs in the evening

[Al Publican]

The summer of '88 was followed by the summer of '92 where August temperature did not reach 70F. This was due to the Mount Pinatuba volcanco eruption in 1991, if I have this right.

[Al Publican]

I may have the number of 100F days in Detroit wrong. What is the record for 100F days in Detroit for one summer?

[1953]

I recall the heatwave of 88 because its when we got a swimming pool that has brought my family much joy ever since.

1953