If you think July was hotter than usual last week (and, of course, it was), you should have been around, and maybe you were, in 1952. That’s when Gainesville and the rest of Georgia experienced their warmest summer on record.
June was especially brutal that year.
According to extremeweatherwatch.com, there were 25 days that month when the high was 90 or more in Gainesville, including six straight days of 100 or more, including 107 on the 27th and 104 on the 28th. In fact, that 107 stands as the hottest day in recorded history for Gainesville.
So, how do these stats stack up against last month.
July in Gainesville saw 90 degrees or more recorded on 27 of 30 days. The highest being 98 on the 28th. Of course, there were several days when the heat index topped 100 – the hottest being 104 also on the 28th.
That’s something – heat index readings – that had not been “invented” during the summer of ’52. It was not developed until 1979.