For many Granite Staters, this July was unusually hot

Has it been getting hotter in the Granite State? Yes, yes it has – and there's data to prove it. (Getty Images)

No, it wasn’t just you. This July was extra hot in many places, setting records in some parts of New Hampshire and elsewhere.

That includes for tens of thousands of people in greater Manchester, the state’s largest city, who had their warmest July at least this century, according to data from the National Weather Service. These are some of the local impacts of the global phenomenon of climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels.

This data provides a look – though, sometimes with an asterisk because of missing years or shorter records – into how temperatures are trending in New Hampshire, one of the northern-most states in the country, where residents are used to milder summers.

It’s been getting hotter in the Granite State. A 2021 New Hampshire Climate Assessment from the University of New Hampshire found it’s gotten three degrees warmer on average here since 1901. This warming was especially pronounced, researchers said, in the fall and winter and at night.

Extreme heat can pose a risk of heat-related illnesses and death, which is a particular danger for vulnerable populations without access to shelter , medical care, or air conditioning. It can also negatively affect other species and disrupt ecosystems.

Here’s a look at what the NWS numbers tell us about New Hampshire Julys and how they’re changing.

Understanding the data

Of the state’s largest cities, the Concord area has the clearest record from the NWS, with monthly average temperatures listed for every July since 1869.

According to that record, eight of the area’s 20 hottest Julys happened this century. 2024 is its second hottest July on record, behind 1872; 2020 is the fourth.

The Manchester area, meanwhile, has large data gaps. There is no average monthly temperature data listed for 1894 to 1928, 1948, 1950, 1956 to 1966, and 1973 to 1997. Those are significant holes in the record that begins in 1885, but we do have an uninterrupted look at the last 26 years of temperatures.

That data shows the four hottest Julys on record happened in the last five years.

Data can be missing “for a variety of reasons,” the NWS explains on its website, “including the data did not make a quality check, there was an equipment outage, or even the observer was not available at a manual station.”

In Nashua, there are a few missing years of data for a July record that starts in 1886: from 1894 to 1896, 1917 to 1925, 1998, 2000, 2003, and 2007. At the weather station used for this story – Nashua 2 NNW – this July’s data was not yet available as of publication. However, another Nashua weather station – Nashua CWSU – showed this July’s average as 76.5 degrees, which would tie 2024 with 1911 for the hottest year on record in the city.

This second weather station has data only from the past decade and is usually within a fraction of a degree of the other Nashua station.

With those asterisks in mind, the data shows that 11 of the hottest 20 Julys on record in Nashua have happened this century. (If 2024 is included from the other station, it’s 12 of the hottest 20.)

The table below shows the 20 hottest Julys from New Hampshire’s three most populous areas. You can sort the table by year or temperature, and you can check out this data and more for yourself here .

The Bulletin also looked at the top 20 toastiest Julys in other towns throughout the state. Here are some main points and limitations of the data:

• Berlin : Six of its hottest Julys have been this century. The record begins in 1886 but is missing data from 1893 to 1917 and a few years from the late 1960s to early 1970s.

• Durham : Half of its hottest Julys on record have been this century. The record, starting in1893, is missing 1894, 1928, 2010, and 2011. 2024 data was not yet available as of this publication.

• Keene: Seven of its warmest Julys were this century, including 2024. It’s missing data from 2000 and began recording in 1893.

• Lebanon (taken at Lebanon Municipal Airport): Thirteen of its hottest Julys recorded were this century. Its three hottest – 2020, 2024, and 2023, in that order – are from this decade. It’s missing data from 1989 to 1997 and began recording in 1948.

• Whitefield (from the Mt. Washington Regional Airport): 2024 is its third hottest July on record, after 2020 and 2013. This data only goes back to 1996.

See more data from these towns in the table below.