There are still several weeks left of summer, but cooler temperatures have swept the area and are affecting public pool attendance numbers.
“We’re experiencing a winter weather pattern in summer,” says Paul Head of the National Weather Service. “Cold air comes out from Canada to the Great Lakes and then Pennsylvania.”
This unusual summer weather could last another ten to 14 days but temperatures should rise again. “It usually gets hot when school returns,” Head says.
The normal high for this time of year is 83 degrees Fahrenheit and the normal low is 62 degrees, Head says the current temperatures are five to six degrees below normal.
The cooler temperatures we’ve been having are “completely opposite from June and July,” Head says. “Our hottest weather is normally late July early August.”
Although the temperatures haven’t been as warm as usual for August, Head points out that we’re experiencing a nice weather pattern as we go into September.
“We will have cloudy days as well as nice ones,” he says.
Senior meteorologist Paul Walker of AccuWeather says that although it has been cool the past few days, the “refreshing air mass” that most of the northeast is experiencing “is coming to an end.”
Evening temperatures have been in the 50s, Walker says, but will rise up to the mid-60s.
There could be another warm spell, Walker says, but temperatures won’t be as high as they were earlier in the summer and Centre County could see a mix of weather in the coming weeks.
Due to the recent unseasonal low temperatures, several area public pools have seen a decline in activity.
“Attendance numbers are down for the end of July and early August,” says Todd Roth, aquatics supervisor for Centre Region Parks and Recreation, which oversees Park Forest and Welch pools.
Since it was exceptionally warm in early July, overall attendance numbers for the pools are comparable to what they would usually be at this time of year.
If temperatures stay down, however, attendance numbers will end up low for the season.
