National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Many locations broke the string of consecutive 90 degree days on Friday July 22nd with the passage of a cold front...mainly north of the Detroit Metro area.  However Detroit once again exceeded 90 degrees on Friday and Saturday as the front lifted back north...extending the string of consecutive 90 degree days to 7. 

Last  week...temperatures touched the century mark on Thursday July 21st for the first time since 1995... with highs of at least 100 at Detroit, Monroe, Adrian, Grosse Isle, and Ypsilanti.  All of Southeast Michgan saw temperatures soar through the 90s toward 100.

Below is a chart depicting the history of heat waves in Southeast Michigan, showing how this hot stretch ranks among past heat waves. A heat wave is considered a string of 5 days reaching 90 degrees or higher, or 3 days reaching 95 or higher.

An example of how to read the chart below is saying the last time Detroit saw 7 or more consecutive days of 90 was June 15 - June 21, 1994 and there are 13 occurences of that happening.

The last 100 degree day was July 14, 1995 (all 3 sites).
100 degrees or higher has occurred 34 days in Detroit, 38 days in Flint, and 38 days in the Tri Cities.

 

 

  Number of Consecutive Days Reaching 90 Degrees or Higher
    9 8 7 6 5
Most Recent Ending Date (frequency) Detroit 9/4/1953  (1) 7/25/1987  (6) 7/23/2011  (14) 7/23/2011  (23) 7/23/2011  (40)
Flint 9/3/1953  (5) 7/25/1987  (9) 7/25/1987  (20) 7/21/2011  (33) 7/21/2011  (48)
Tri Cities 9/3/1953  (4) 7/25/1987  (7) 6/26/1998  (12) 6/26/1998  (21) 7/21/2011  (35)

The maximums for each site are as follows: Detroit 11 days ending 9/4/1953...Flint 13 days ending 7/18/1936...Tri Cities 10 days ending 9/3/1953.