FARGO — Although the weather pattern has cooled recently, the summer is off to a warm start. Here in Fargo, a record high temperature was broken on May 23rd, then tied on June 1st and 20th. Record low temperatures were recorded on May 23 and June 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 20 and 21. The Grand Forks station did not break any daily high records with the National Weather Service, but did break daily low records from June 2-6 and again on June 20.
Locally and globally, more warm low temperature records are being broken than daily high records. In other words, the nights are warmer than the days. This trend is particularly pronounced in the northern plains, where nighttime heat has more than doubled the rate of daytime heat. As the atmosphere warms, evaporation increases, and a warmer atmosphere has a higher capacity to hold water in vapor form, making it more humid than before.
John Wheeler is WDAY’s chief meteorologist, a position he has held since May 1985. Wheeler grew up in the South, in Louisiana and Alabama, and cites his family’s move to the Midwest as key to developing his passion for weather and climate. As a teenager, Wheeler lived in Wisconsin and Iowa. He attended Iowa State University in 1984 with a BS in Meteorology. Wheeler worked at WOI-TV in central Iowa for a year before moving to Fargo and WDAY.
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