The high temperature broke 100 degrees four times in July and the heat index reached 100 or higher nine times, according to Keefer and his website. The highest the heat index hit last month was July 23, when it touched 108 degrees, Keefer said.
The high temperatures might come down as we head into late summer, but they are expected to continue to be above normal into October, National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Witt said last week.
The average high temperature in the Hagerstown area during July was 92.7 degrees and Keefer recorded 21 days where the temperature reached at least 90.
July wasn't just hot. It was dry.
The Hagerstown area received 1.53 inches of rain during July, according to Keefer's website. Mother Nature only teased the area with rain, as just one rain event barely exceeded half an inch of rain -- 0.65 inch -- on July 9.
The National Weather Service was calling for a 20 percent to 30 percent chance of rain today through Friday this week, according to its website at http://www.weather.gov.
In between the brief rainfalls of July, high-pressure systems kept the area warm and dry as the lack of rain allowed temperatures to creep up, Witt said. One area of high pressure, in mid-July, was so large it reached into central Ontario, Canada, and influenced the weather along much of the East Coast, he said.
On July 24, the Hagerstown area set new record high and low temperatures, according to Keefer's records, which date to 1898.
The low of 81 degrees on July 24 set a new record for the highest low temperature ever recorded in Hagerstown. The old record was 79 degrees on July 11, 1989, and July 5, 1911, according to Keefer's records.
The high of 101 degrees broke the old July 24 record of 98 degrees set in 1987.
High temperature records that were tied in July, according to Keefer's website, were:
o 100 degrees on July 6, tying the record highs of July 6, 1977, and 1999
o 102 degrees on July 7, tying the record set in 1988
o 99 degrees on July 8, tying the record set in 1988
Witt said it's hard to tell if the 100-degree temperatures are behind us.
"August can be warm as well," he said.
