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SALT LAKE CITY — The ruling on the field stands.
The National Centers for Environmental Information released a report Friday confirming that Utah matched an all-time high temperature of 117 degrees a year ago, prompting the agencies to update the Utah maximum temperature record book.
Both of the state's 117-degree temperatures were recorded in St. George, though at different stations. The first came on July 5, 1985. But a heat dome event resulted in similar sweltering heat on July 10, 2021, resulting in a reading of 117 degrees at a Cooperative Observer Program station in St. George.
The State Climate Extremes Committee — a panel of local and regional experts — met later that month to confirm the reading because of its interest in the state record book. However, the team didn't confirm the reading at that time and didn't reconvene again on the matter until last month, according to the report, which was compiled by Kevin Barjenbruch, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service's Salt Lake City Office.
"There is clear meteorological evidence to support the record-tying event, as well as confidence in the event due to robust equipment testing and recorded high temperatures from surrounding stations," Barjenbruch wrote.
What's interesting is that the weather service received many other readings exceeding 117 degrees that day, including one of 120 degrees on the roof at the Washington County School District's information technology building, which is a part of the St. George Citizen Weather Observer Program.
So why didn't that reading count?
Barjenbruch wrote that the roof location was "deemed to be unrepresentative of environmental conditions," resulting in it being invalidated. Similar reasons discredited the other unofficial reports exceeding 117 degrees at the time.
With multiple non-NWS observations disqualified, the St. George COOP 117°F July 10, 2021 observation held up under scrutiny from the State Climate Extremes Committee, officially tying the Utah maximum temperature record: https://t.co/ri1VKtUWOMpic.twitter.com/LiPuuWRBhV
— NOAA NCEI (@NOAANCEI) July 8, 2022
Thus, the hottest temperature ever recorded in Utah remains 117 degrees; though it has now happened twice. The National Centers for Environmental Information also lists 2021 as the hottest July in Utah history, dating back to 1895.
The ruling was published as Utah is again facing a heat wave, though nowhere as hot as July 10, 2021. High temperatures are expected to exceed 100 degrees in St. George over the next week, but the current forecast says that is only supposed to top up just shy of 110 degrees during that time.
