The National Weather Service climate summary for metro Atlanta has now been updated with June, 2023 figures.

What is climate? Is it the same as weather?

In an article entitled What is the Difference between Climate and Weather?, the National Ocean Service describes the difference as follows:

“Weather is what you see outside on any particular day. So, for example, it may be 75° degrees and sunny or it could be 20° degrees with heavy snow. That’s the weather.

“Climate is the average of that weather. For example, you can expect snow in the Northeast in January or for it to be hot and humid in the Southeast in July. This is climate. The climate record also includes extreme values such as record high temperatures or record amounts of rainfall. If you’ve ever heard your local weather person say “today we hit a record high for this day,” she is talking about climate records.

“So when we are talking about climate change, we are talking about changes in long-term averages of daily weather. In most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space.”

This is a summary for the Atlanta area of each day in June, including the maximum temperature for the day, the minimum, and the departure from the norm. The norm is calculated by taking the average over a 30-year period.

The June metro Atlanta climate summary

Date	Temperature				Precipitation
	Maximum	Minimum	Average	Departure
2023-06-01	84	64	74	-1.1	0
2023-06-02	87	68	77.5	2.1	0
2023-06-03	89	67	78	2.4	0
2023-06-04	82	68	75	-0.8	0.52
2023-06-05	84	64	74	-2	0
2023-06-06	90	68	79	2.8	T
2023-06-07	90	69	79.5	3.1	0
2023-06-08	85	70	77.5	0.9	0
2023-06-09	85	66	75.5	-1.3	0
2023-06-10	87	63	75	-2	0
2023-06-11	84	67	75.5	-1.7	0.67
2023-06-12	81	66	73.5	-3.9	0.18
2023-06-13	79	63	71	-6.6	0
2023-06-14	76	67	71.5	-6.2	0.84
2023-06-15	82	68	75	-2.9	0
2023-06-16	88	71	79.5	1.4	0
2023-06-17	90	69	79.5	1.2	0
2023-06-18	86	69	77.5	-0.9	T
2023-06-19	78	67	72.5	-6.1	1
2023-06-20	85	70	77.5	-1.2	0.03
2023-06-21	76	66	71	-7.9	0.37
2023-06-22	81	65	73	-6	0.05
2023-06-23	85	69	77	-2.2	0
2023-06-24	88	67	77.5	-1.8	0
2023-06-25	92	68	80	0.6	0.67
2023-06-26	91	67	79	-0.6	0
2023-06-27	89	72	80.5	0.8	0
2023-06-28	90	70	80	0.2	0
2023-06-29	92	72	82	2.1	0
2023-06-30	90	72	81	1	0.05
Observations for each day cover the 24 hours ending at the time given below (Local Standard Time).
Max Temperature : midnight
Min Temperature : midnight
Precipitation : midnight

Here is the daily almanac for July 12, 2023 giving record and average temperatures for this day. Most of the figures are self-explanatory, but you can visit the climate page for the region for further explanation.

Daily Data	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Max Temperature	M	90	103 in 1980	70 in 1898
Min Temperature	M	72	80 in 1980	58 in 1898
Avg Temperature	M	81	91.5 in 1980	64.0 in 1898
Precipitation	M	0.17	1.89 in 2009	0.00 in 2022
Snowfall	M	0	0.0 in 2022	0.0 in 2022
Snow Depth	M	–	0 in 2022	0 in 2022
HDD (base 65)	M	0	1 in 1898	0 in 2022
CDD (base 65)	M	16	27 in 1980	0 in 1898
Month-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	91.2	89.8	96.5 in 1980	76.9 in 1892
Avg Min Temperature	72.5	71.4	75.2 in 1980	63.7 in 1940
Avg Temperature	81.8	80.6	85.8 in 1980	71.0 in 1892
Total Precipitation	1.54	2.04	13.05 in 2005	0.00 in 1879
Total Snowfall	0	0	T in 2001	0.0 in 2023
Max Snow Depth	0	–	0 in 2023	0 in 2023
Total HDD (base 65)	0	0	4 in 1892	0 in 2023
Total CDD (base 65)	188	187	254 in 1980	79 in 1892
Year-to-Date Summary	Observed	Normal	Record Highest	Record Lowest
Avg Max Temperature	73.1	71.3	74.9 in 2012	64.9 in 1895
Avg Min Temperature	54.8	51.7	55.2 in 1880	45.0 in 1940
Avg Temperature	64	61.5	65.0 in 2012	55.4 in 1940
Total Precipitation	26.85	27.77	46.40 in 1912	13.36 in 1986
Total Snowfall (since July 1)	0	0	T in 2001	0.0 in 2023
Max Snow Depth (since July 1)	0	–	0 in 2023	0 in 2023
Total HDD (since July 1)	0	0	4 in 1892	0 in 2023
Total CDD (since Jan 1)	853	871	1105 in 2012	472 in 1972
Period of Record:
Max Temperature : 1878-10-04 to 2023-07-11
Min Temperature : 1878-10-04 to 2023-07-11
Precipitation : 1878-10-01 to 2023-07-11
Snowfall : 1928-12-25 to 2023-07-10
Snow Depth : 1928-12-25 to 2023-07-09

The Courier and Climate Change

Human generated climate change is real, and it is not an opinion up for debate. The strong consensus among climate scientists is that the average global temperature has been sharply increased due to human activities.

It is also a crisis, with long-term global consequences.

The Courier does not run opinion articles or letters to the editor that deny or minimize climate change, any more than we run materials denying the existence of gravity or the heliocentric solar system.

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