In 1864, the Idaho Territorial Legislature voted to make Boise the state capital, the Idaho Statesman published its first edition and officials at Fort Boise began keeping local weather records.
In the 160 years since then, 2024 was the second-hottest summer recorded in Boise, according to the National Weather Service. Only 2021 saw a more sweltering summer here.
Weather experts wanting to calculate how unusual a summer was can compare temperatures to the overall average temperature for Boise summers between 1991 and 2020, which was 73.63 degrees.
Idaho’s average temperature this summer was 77.4 degrees, coming close to 2021’s summer record of a 78-degree average, according to Sophia Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Boise.
June’s average temperature was 4.4 degrees above the overall average, July’s was 5.2 above and August’s was 1.7 above, Adams said.
2024 saw 20 days over 100 degrees, which didn’t quite break 2022’s record of 23 days of 100-plus weather, according to the National Weather Service. When it comes to lows, 2024 tied the 2021 record of 21 days with a low temperature above 70 degrees.