Summer 2023 has been a moderate, seasonable one for Upper Michigan, despite alarmist headlines claiming the month of July was the warmest in human history (The hyperbole is over the top!) The first week of August ran about a degree above the long-term norm–so the seasonable summer continues.

August has a history of unseasonable heat at times. A couple of the hottest occurred back to back in the late 1940s. Last week we mentioned how Marquette, Iron Mountain and Ironwood all topped 100 degrees in early August 1947. It then cooled for a couple of days, with another surge of heat the second week of the month. Ironwood hit the 90s four consecutive days from August 10-13, 1947. There are four more record highs that year still in the books at Ironwood, including a 95-degree high on August 22, 1947. In Marquette, a mean temperature of 70.9, made August 1947 the warmest eighth month on record.

The very next year, a scorching heat wave settled over the U.P. late in the month. Ironwood set record highs in the 90s from August 23-27, 1948, while Houghton hit an all-time August high of 98 on the 24th, with Marquette topping 100 degrees the same day.

In more recent times, Iron Mountain residents experienced four consecutive record highs in the mid-90s from August 28-31, 1991. The National Weather Service also had four consecutive highs of 90 or above that same time.

There will be no 90s during the next week anywhere in Upper Michigan. In fact, it looks like temperatures will generally be somewhat below average the next five days, especially for daytime highs. That’s because of a fair amount of clouds and a chance of showers at times as a series of upper-air troughs is forecast to drop in from the northwest.

Marquette:

Saturday:

69 55

Showers

Sunday:

68 57

Showers

Monday:

68 52

Showers

Tues:

76 49

Partly cloudy

Wed:

72 56

Showers