Was Kansas City summer hotter and rainier than usual as extremes swept across country?
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Climate change in Kansas City
The effects of climate change, including more extreme weather, are being felt across the Kansas City region. Here’s what’s being done and how you can help.
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This summer was a hot one in Kansas City — and rainy too.
For June, July and August Kansas City’s average temperature was 2.3 degrees above normal, making it the 34th warmest in 133 years on record. The metro area saw more rain, too, as overall precipitation was 1.04 inches above normal.
This came as the season was marked by floods, fires, drought, intense heat and powerful storms across the nation and the world. A “Summer of the Extremes” caused by climate warming, according to Climate Central, a independent climate change research organization.
As the climate warms, more record high temperatures are being broken, especially this summer, which saw a heatwave hit the Pacific Northwest in late June. Records were smashed by large margins, according to Climate Central. More than 200 people died as a result of the heat in the northwest.
This summer was among the top 10 hottest summers for more than a third of the nearly 1,400 cities in the United States that Climate Central analyzed. For 114 cities, this was their hottest summer on record.
Fortunately for Kansas City residents, the weather was not as extreme. The hottest it got this summer was 98 degrees, which occurred on June 17 and 18, July 28 and 29 and Aug. 11, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Regional Climate Centers.
The last time Kansas City hit 100 degrees was July 18, 2018. That’s more than 1,760 days ago, the second longest stretch of days where temperatures remained under 100.
Every 10 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration resets what defines normal weather conditions for daily, monthly and annual climate conditions for thousands of locations across the United States.
The latest figures were released in early May and will be used over the next 10 years to compare daily weather conditions.
The average temperature for this summer was 78.6, which was 2.3 degrees warmer than the normal of 76.3 degrees. The average maximum temperature was 88.6 degrees, which was 2.1 degrees warmer than the normal average maximum temperature of 86.5 degrees.
Meanwhile, summer nights were warmer in Kansas City, too. The average minimum temperature were 68.7 degrees, which was 2.6 degrees warmer than the normal minimum temperature of 66.1 degrees.
So Kansas Citians didn’t get much, if any, break on hot days.
There were 15 times this summer where the minimum temperature didn’t drop below 75 degrees. Warm summer nights are a health concern because they don’t give people a chance to recover from extreme daytime heat.
That was the fourth highest number of days in the past 30 years where the overnight temperatures remained above 75 degrees.
Extreme heat is the deadliest weather hazard and large metropolitan areas like Kansas City can see hotter summertime temperatures than their surrounding rural areas — a phenomenon known as an “urban heat island.” Even within large cities, some neighborhoods can be hotter than others.
Extreme heat disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including poorer communities of color, older people, people experiencing homelessness and those who work outdoors.
In addition to the heat, Kansas City was wetter too. For the three-month season, 15.11 inches of rain fell in Kansas City, which is 1.04 inches above the normal summertime precipitation of 14.07 inches. That made this summer the 42nd wettest summer in 133 years on record and the 14th wettest summer in the past 30 years.
There were seven days this summer were rainfall totals exceeded one inch, the 10th highest number of times on record and the fifth highest since 1991.
On average, Kansas City has 10.5 days where rainfall totals exceed one inch. So far this year, there have been 12 days.
In a warming climate, the atmosphere can hold more moisture which can lead to heavier rains and more flooding.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
