Meteorological Summer has come to an end, and what a hot one it was. Coming off the hottest summer on record in 2023, how does the past three months stack up? That question will be answered here. 

Hottest Summers

It's official, 2024 has had the 2nd hottest summer on record, with an average temperature of 85.6°. This beats 3rd place by a full degree! If not for last year, this summer would have been number one. 

Driest Summers

Thankfully, we have for the most part avoided drought this summer. The last three months have totaled 12.23" of rain. Is this below average, yes, but it is nothing close to 2023. We only had 7.27" of rain, which made it the driest summer on record for the capital area.

Heat & Humidity

The thing we hate most here in southeast Louisiana: the humidity! This is what makes the already hot temperatures feel even hotter. When our heat index is 108° and above, a heat advisory is issued. When this reading is 113° and above, an excessive heat warning is issued. 

The summer of 2024 has totaled 33 heat advisories, and 7 excessive heat warnings. This is actually less heat advisories than 2023, which totaled 29 in the summer months. It was a whole different story with the excessive heat warnings. Last year had 28, which crushes this years number!

90° Days

In southeast Louisiana, we hit 90° a good bit, especially in the summer. On average, we will have 90 days above 90°. Of course 2023 had way more than that, and actually broke the record, with 140 days above 90° degrees. So far this year, we are above average with 107, but we are not on pace to break any records.

Hot & Dry August

August is usually the hottest month of the year, and this year was no exception. Our average temperature was 86.5°, which makes it the 2nd hottest August on record. It was also abnormally dry, with only 2.64" of measured rainfall. Some parts of southeast Louisiana even entered moderate drought conditions.

2023 shattered the August temperature records, with an average temperature of 90.1°. Rainfall wise, it was the 5th driest on record with 1.53"

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