![]() Chicago, Illinois’s highest dew point was 83° at 8 a.m. Last summer (2010), Newton, Iowa recorded an 88° dew point on July 14th. Highest Dew Point Measurements in the United States Photo courtesy of the Grand Forks, North Dakota National Weather Service Office. Furthermore, the AWOS is surrounded by sugar beets and soy beans “two of the most prodigious transpiring plants”.Ī photograph of the Moorhead Airport Automated Station tat registered the 88° dew point on July 19th. The NWS office in Grand Forks, North Dakota issued this statement explaining how heavy rainfall the morning of the event had saturated the soil and left ponding water near the instrument site. Another site in Minnesota, Madison, also registered an 88° dew point (although this site may not be considered an official reporting station). On July 19th not only did Moorhead record its highest dew point on record but so did Minneapolis with an 82° (and possibly even 84° for a five minute period between 3:21-3:27 pm) on the same day. Unfortunately the dew point table does not consider dew points above 82°. Two graphics illustrating the affect of humidity on the apparent feel of the temperature: at top is NOAA’s Heat Index chart (% of humidity with air temperature) and below that the effect of dew point with air temperature. One possible factor is that the worst heat waves in the area sometimes occur following heavy rainfalls that have saturated the ground and lowest levels of the atmosphere whereas other more southern places usually reach there highest temperatures during periods of drought, as is the current situation in the Southern Plains. I have not been able to discover just why the dew points in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin sometimes are higher than anywhere else in the United States during exceptional heat waves versus, say, Missouri or other states that are generally more humid and also endure exceptional summer heat. Although for the most part this is true the other region that occasionally seems to record extraordinary heat and humidity is the Upper Midwest. One might assume that the highest dew points measured in the United States would be those observed during in areas along or near the coast of the Gulf of Mexico during the summer months. The 88° Dew Point Measured at Moorhead, Minnesota on July 19, 2011 Here is a brief summary of record dew point levels from both the U.S.A. This would also be one of the highest dew points ever observed in the United States. Just recently the Minnesota State Climate Office issued a statement declaring the 88° dew point temperature measured at Moorhead (on the Red River across from Fargo, North Dakota) between 7pm and 9pm on Jas a new all-time state record for the highest such reading ever observed.
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