Extratropical Highlights - July 2026

 

1. Northern Hemisphere

The 500-hPa circulation during July featured predominantly above average heights for the middle latitudes and below average heights over the North Pole (Fig. E9). The main land-surface temperature signals include above average temperatures across Europe, Russia, and the western U.S. (Fig. E1). The main precipitation signals include above average totals across Russia and below average totals across Europe (Fig. E3).

 

a. North America

The 500-hPa height pattern featured moderate ridging over most of the U.S. and Canada (Fig. E9). Associated with the anomalous ridging pattern, most of the U.S. recorded above average temperatures for the month of July, with many areas in the western half reaching the highest 90th percentile of occurrences (Fig. E1). Below average temperatures were recorded across Alaska with most of the state reaching the lowest 30th percentile of occurrences (Fig. E1). Precipitation totals were largely near normal with some exceptions such as southern Texas where above normal precipitation was recorded and below normal precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and across a majority of the Central Plains and Midwest (Figs. E3, E5, E6).

 

b. Eurasia

The 500-hPa height pattern featured strongly above average height anomalies over Europe and weakly above average height anomalies over central and eastern Russia (Fig. E9). Temperatures were well above normal across Europe and Russia, with many areas reaching the highest 90th percentile of occurrences (Fig. E1). Precipitation totals were above average across central and eastern Russia and below average across Europe (Fig. E3).

 

2. Southern Hemisphere

The 500-hPa height pattern during July resembled an annular mode with above average middle latitude height anomalies encircling below average heights over the South Pole (Fig. E15). Temperatures along the western and southern portions of South America were above normal with the exception of southern Chile, where temperatures were below normal (Fig. E1). Temperatures were also above normal for eastern and southern Africa, and eastern and western Australia (Fig. E1). Precipitation totals were below average in Australia, eastern Africa, and eastern South America, and above average across southern Chile (Fig. E3).