JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Another record is coming to Jacksonville, but it's more than likely not the type folks are jumping for joy over.
July 2023 is likely to go down as one of the hottest in the history books for the River City. This comes as no surprise because not only are we experiencing some intense heat, but both global air and ocean temperatures have been off the charts.
With just days to go, this July ranks as the third-hottest on record with an average temperature of 84.9F. This data comes from the average of low and high temperature observations for each day from July 1 through Wednesday.
With five days left in the month to account for, the record to beat is 86.0F set in 1872. That's more than 150 years ago!
Is this likely? With a couple of cooler days in store - relative to the rest of the month, of course! The 86.0F might be a tough one to beat but, temperatures are expected to rise in a big way Saturday through the final day of July with the return of our heat dome.
Coming in second right now, was in 1875 when Jacksonville's July average temperature was 85.3F. If July 2023 drops to 84.5F, it would tie with 1881. After that, we start to see more recent record years like 1981, 1942 and 2016 to name a few. Needless to say, these are tough records to beat, let alone challenge in the first place.
Stay tuned to see how the next few days play out here in town. You may soon be able to officially say you witnessed one of Jacksonville's hottest July's ever!
Most recent to top the charts of all time hottest years on record in Jacksonville was 2019. It comes in second according to the Jacksonville International Airport climate site. Here's Meteorologist Lauren Rautenkranz's recap from that year.