A rather extreme heat wave gripped New England for several days this June. This heat wave was the longest recorded heat wave in Hartford. Feels-like temperatures skyrocketed to around 110° in places as the air temperature reached into the upper 90s with dew points well into the 70s. Still, this heat wave came up short of all-time records in New England. Many of these records still belong to August 2nd, 1975, New England’s hottest day on record in many places.
The heat for this fateful Saturday, now known simply as “Hot Saturday,” began to build across the center of the country earlier in the week. This came as a strong ridge of high pressure, now known as a heat dome, began to build. On Wednesday, July 30th, 1975, temperatures soared well into the 90s and low 100s across the upper Midwest while New England hung around the 80s.
This strong heat dome continued to shift east through the week. By Friday, the system was situated near the New York, Pennsylvania border. This position is very favorable to pump heat and humidity into New England amid a southwest flow around the area of high pressure. This allowed heat to build into the 90s for much of New England. More importantly, high humidity kept overnight lows very warm. Boston’s morning low on August 2nd was an incredible 83°.