Summer heat drags on thanks to thermal lag

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Summer isn’t over for another month, but we can already say it’s been hot.

But the longest day of the year was actually the first day of summer…two months ago!

So, why is the average temperature just starting to fall? And why have the days been so hot recently since the days are getting shorter?

It’s called a thermal lag. And the reasoning lies around and just inside the Earth. 

The atmosphere is made up of water vapor and gases like carbon dioxide, the “greenhouse gases,” and they absorb the heat.

The water in rivers, lakes and the oceans absorbs heat as well along with soil, and it takes a while for all that stored heat to make its way out of the atmosphere.

Otherwise, we’d have much cooler nights, shorter growing seasons and more brutal winters!