Two Hottest August Days Ever in Cheyenne

The record breaking heat wave across the Rockies, High Plains, and Front Range continues on as we have gotten into August. While Denver has endured a record shattering stretch of over three weeks of consecutive 90 plus degrees days, we here in Cheyenne have been not been far behind. Being 1000 feet higher than Denver in elevation at around 6000 ', we are always going to be usually about five degrees cooler. But it is quite striking to see the occurrence of the two hottest August days ever for this area. It hit 98 degrees on both Friday 1 August and Saturday 2 August. Prior to this it never gotten above 96 degrees here in Cheyenne in August. 98 degrees at this altitude is equivalent to 127 degrees at sea level. It has only been recorded at 100 degrees in Cheyenne four times in history, and never has a 99 degree temperature been officially observed. With climate records from before World War II being possibly questionable, one has to think this kind of heat is possibly unprecedented in centuries and more. If this had occurred three to four weeks earlier with a higher sun angle, the temperature would have made it at least to 101 degrees. This is probably yet another micro event that can be possibly tied to global warming and climate change, but cannot be made conclusively. However, the kind of weather and temperatures we have experienced in this region throughout this decade and particularly in the last month is becoming the new norm and will be quite commonplace within a decade or so. Welcome to Arizona at altitude -- the new description for the climate of the Front Range region...
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http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=cys&storyid=17101&source=0
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RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
0323 PM MDT SAT AUG 02 2008
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...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT CHEYENNE WY...
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A RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE OF 98 DEGREES WAS SET AT CHEYENNE WY TODAY.THIS BREAKS THE OLD RECORD OF 94 SET IN 1938.
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RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHEYENNE WY
245 PM MDT FRI AUG 01 2008
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...RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE SET AT CHEYENNE AIRPORT...
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AT 228 PM...A RECORD TEMPERATURE OF 98 DEGREES WAS REACHED AT THE CHEYENNE AIRPORT. THIS TOPPED THE PREVIOUS RECORD OF 96 DEGREES SET IN 1938.
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