• Warmer than usual

  • Think it felt cooler this summer? You're right.
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  • Think it felt cooler this summer? You're right.
    Think it felt warmer this summer? You're also right.
    Stockton experienced fewer 100-degree days than normal, for the third year in a row. But average high temperatures, while not extreme, stayed consistently toasty leaving the city with a warmer than average summer across June, July, August and September.
    "We certainly had our stretches of heat at times," said Eric Kurth, a National Weather Service forecaster. "It wasn't an extraordinary summer. One thing I've noticed, though, is that people consider this to be very hot partly because last year was so cool. Frequently, you're judging the weather by what you experienced recently."
    Indeed, Stockton saw just seven days at or above 100 degrees last year and just 11 days the year before that. The years 2005 through 2009, however, ranged from 20 days to 31 days of triple-digit heat.
    So in that sense, we've been spoiled.
    Then again, this year the city saw fewer cool spells over the course of the summer, which ended Saturday. Even now, as fall kicks in, daytime temperatures have stubbornly remained in the 90s when they should be falling into the 80s.
    So far, this September is 3 degrees warmer than usual.
    There's no reason to expect any more 100-degree days, however, even though they have historically arrived as late as Oct. 4.
    Bill Patzert, an oceanographer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, has said Stockton's relative lack of extreme heat in recent years is most likely related to cooler than normal ocean currents. That phenomenon can cause a stronger Delta breeze, which cools down the Valley at night and helps to control those long, drawn-out heat waves.
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