A climatologist compared the hottest 90 days of each year across two periods, 1965–1994 and 1995–2024. The comparison measured how often the temperature patterns that once marked the start of the hottest three months now occur. The comparison shows that those high-temperature patterns are extending beyond the calendar definition of summer. The frequency of such hottest-90-day periods has increased in the more recent period. Local mapping links ZIP-code–level results to regional shifts in the timing of peak heat. An interactive ZIP-code tool provides fast, localized results.
The analysis, conducted by climatologist Brian Brettschneider, examined the hottest 90 days of the year from 1965 to 1994 and compared their frequency over 1995 to 2024. He found that the temperatures that used to kick off the hottest three months of the year are expanding beyond the calendar definition of summer.
For the Washington Post, Kasha Patel and Naema Ahmed mapped the change in summer time.
I like the interactive bit at the beginning to enter your ZIP code. It's speedy.
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