This August Was Long Island's Hottest Ever

LONG ISLAND, NY — Last month was the hottest August on record for Long Island, according to data released last week by the National Weather Service.

According to the NWS, the average temperature for August at the official monitoring station in Islip was 77.7 degrees, which is four degrees above normal. The previous record was 77.4 degrees, which was set in 1980.

The records of the National Weather Service go back more than a century.

This August was one of the warmest on record for much of the tri-state area. It was the hottest ever in Newark, New Jersey, with an average temperature of 80.5 degrees. It was the second-warmest at JFK airport, and the third-warmest ever both in Central Park and in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

It was also one of the driest Augusts ever. NWS data shows that Islip received 0.67 inches of rain throughout the month, when the average rainfall is 4.24 inches. It was the fourth-driest August on record, and significantly contributed to the area's severe drought. The driest August on record was in 1964, when Islip received 0.18 inches of rain.