Looking Back at the Most Prolific New Weather Records This Past Year

Meteorologists routinely lean on the use of record-keeping to determine how historic a particular year was for weather patterns. What did the year 2024 deliver for the weather record books? Here is a look back at some of the record-breaking numbers that came in to the U.S. this year.

Warmest First 11 Months of the Year

While the data is still being tabulated for the month of December, the first 11 months of the year have already ranked as the warmest period for the continental U.S. The records date back about 130 years. According to a climate report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in early December, every U.S. state experienced temperatures that were well above average from January through November. There were also 22 states that saw the warmest first 11 months of the year on the record books.

The NOAA report for the whole year is due on January 9. Depending on how the last day of the year shakes out, it is possible that the year could end up being one of the two warmest ever.

Record Dry Streak for the Mid-Atlantic

It was an exceptionally dry fall for portions of the mid-Atlantic. Some parts of the region did not see any measurable rain in over a month, bringing down a number of all-time records for lack of precipitation.

Looking at a few individual metro areas, both P​hiladelphia and Trenton, New Jersey did not see any measurable rain for 42 consecutive days from the end of September and into early November. This was the longest stretch of dry days in over 150 years of record-keeping. For context, the previous record of dry days for Philadelphia had stood at 29 days, dating back to 1874.

The area around Baltimore and Washington, D.C. was also bone dry during the fall season. Both of these metro areas went 38 straight days with no measurable rain, breaking records set in 1871.

River Flooding Triggered by Hurricane Helene

Although Hurricane Helene initially made landfall in the U.S. along the Florida Gulf Coast, it was the interior portions of the Southeast that saw the worst of the impacts of this moisture-packed storm. The rain associated with Helene merged with another storm system over the southern Appalachians to trigger catastrophic flooding for the region at the end of September.

Western North Carolina was in the bullseye of the record-breaking rain, shattering records that had been in place since the Great Flood of 1916. The town of Busick saw an eye-popping 30.78 inches of rain. Winding through the resort mountain town of Asheville, the French Broad River eclipsed the previous record of 23.1 feet by over a foot as the rain continued to fill the banks of the waterway.

Eastern Tennessee was also hit hard by the torrential rain. The Pigeon River in Newport was another waterway that recorded a historic flood crest as a result of Helene's wrath.

Blazing Hot by Alaska Standards

The warmer than average temperatures were not limited to the Lower 48. Deadhorse, Alaska saw the mercury climb to 89 degrees on August 6, smashing the community's all-time record of 85 degrees dating back to July of 2016. NOAA confirmed that this reading was also the hottest temperature ever officially recorded so far north in Alaska, an area bordered by the Arctic Ocean.

To put this measurement in perspective, the average high reading in Deadhorse typically hovers around 55 degrees in July. The average high in Deadhorse in August sits at just 50 degrees.

While the reading in the upper 80s was certainly something to talk about in Alaska, it still fell short of the all-time record for the state. This distinction belongs to Fort Yukon with a top temperature of 100 degrees.

Hottest Month on Earth in Death Valley

Death Valley is accustomed to seeing searing temperatures but even this part of the country was taken aback by the soaring mercury over the summer. Located in the depths of the Southern California desert, the area saw an average reading of 108.5 degrees over the course of July 2024, translating to the hottest monthly average ever recorded on the entire planet. The monthly average is tabulated by using all 31 daily high and low readings.

The new record beats the old record that was also set in Death Valley. The past record was 108.1 degrees, a measurement taken in July of 2018. The region saw high readings eclipse 120 degrees on 24 of the 31 days in the month. Meanwhile, the low bottomed out at 95 degrees on 19 of the days.