Scorching start to July

The beginning of July has been absolutely brutal with heat, humidity, haze, and poor air quality. Most of the blame lies in the Bermuda high over the Atlantic as it moved back to the west and put us in the prime zone for these conditions. I am actually somewhat surprised we have not had more rare birds or even annual oddities showing up. This may have to do with the fact people have to be out there to find them and few would want to be in such conditions for prolonged periods.

Yes, it may not be 95 or 100, but the temperature has been so consistently high with ridiculous deviations for overnight lows that the average temperature for the month compared to the long-term climate is much higher than usual.

In the Bridgeport area (date - high/low/average - departure from average for date all in degrees Fahrenheit)
July 1 - 81/73/77 - 4
July 2 - 82/73/78 - 5
July 3 - 85/73/79 - 6
July 4 - 88/74/81 - 8
July 5 - 92/74/83 - 10
July 6 - 92/75/84 - 10
July 7 - 93/76/85 - 11
July 8 - 90/74/82 - 8
July 9 - 84/72/78 - 4
July 10 - 86/74/80/ - 6

Average monthly temperature: 80.6
Departure from average: +7.1

In the Hartford area (date - high/low/average - departure from average for date all in degrees Fahrenheit)
July 1 - 79/72/76 - 4
July 2 - 86/73/80 - 8
July 3 - 88/73/81 - 8
July 4 - 91/72/82 - 9
July 5 - 93/73/83 - 10
July 6 - 93/75/84 - 11
July 7 - 94/73/84 - 11
July 8 - 90/71/81 - 8
July 9 - 84/69/77 - 2
July 10 - 87/73/80 - 6

Average monthly temperature: 80.4
Departure from average: + 7.4

Wow! As always, it is one period during one month, but this will be another hot July we put into the ever-changing climate record books unless we get a huge cold snap (good luck with that). I can't wait to see how long Bridgeport can stay out of the 60s (ugh!) as it has been 70 or above 24 hours a day since June 27.

I would suggest keeping an eye open for southern or Atlantic vagrants, especially as we get this cold front passing through. At that point perhaps a strange bird or two will become more obvious or a western rarity will pop up. Shorebirds are on the move back to the south already and some species of land birds will be coming back our way soon, too. As birds begin to migrate across the continent chances will increase for an oddity showing up here in Connecticut. Meanwhile let's see if we can get conditions back to normal and stop drying up all that surplus water that fell in June.


Scott Kruitbosch
Conservation Technician