Map showing the temperature difference from normal across North America on 28 September 2021, as simulated by the European weather model. Hazen, North Dakota was among numerous locations that endured record-breaking heat in the northern Plains on Tuesday. Bismarck rose to 98 degrees, while Dickinson, N.D., about 60 miles southwest of Hazen, also hit 100. In South Dakota, Rapid City and Aberdeen both soared to 94, setting records for 28 September 2021. Average high temperatures in interior North Dakota in late September are in the 60s, meaning the actual readings deviated about 30 degrees from the norm. Graphic: WeatherBell / The Washington Post
Map showing the temperature difference from normal across North America on 28 September 2021, as simulated by the European weather model. Hazen, North Dakota was among numerous locations that endured record-breaking heat in the northern Plains on Tuesday. Bismarck rose to 98 degrees, while Dickinson, N.D., about 60 miles southwest of Hazen, also hit 100. In South Dakota, Rapid City and Aberdeen both soared to 94, setting records for 28 September 2021. Average high temperatures in interior North Dakota in late September are in the 60s, meaning the actual readings deviated about 30 degrees from the norm. Graphic: WeatherBell / The Washington Post

By Jason Samenow
29 September 2021

(The Washington Post) – It’s a week past the autumn equinox, and the first snows have fallen in the Rockies and the mountain peaks of New England. But in Hazen, N.D., the mercury soared to the century mark Tuesday afternoon.

According to several climatologists, that 100-degree reading is the highest temperature observed so far north on the planet this late in the calendar year.

The scorching temperature comes after a tie for the hottest summer on record in the Lower 48 states. It was first reported by Maximiliano Herrera, a climatologist who tracks world weather extremes.

Hazen is a small city of just over 2,400 people about 50 miles northwest of Bismarck. It’s in a hilly location, sitting at an elevation of 1,800 feet.

“A temp of 100F one week after the autumn equinox is an absolute insanity,” Herrera tweeted.

Hazen was among numerous locations that endured record-breaking heat in the northern Plains on Tuesday. Bismarck rose to 98 degrees, while Dickinson, N.D., about 60 miles southwest of Hazen, also hit 100. In South Dakota, Rapid City and Aberdeen both soared to 94, setting records for Sept. 28.

Temperatures across the border into Canada climbed as high as 93 degrees. […]

Average high temperatures in interior North Dakota in late September are in the 60s, meaning the actual readings deviated about 30 degrees from the norm. […]

This month, Denver hit 99 degrees Sept. 10, its highest temperature recorded so late in the season. That same week, Death Valley in California reached 122 degrees, the highest temperature observed so late in the year anywhere on the planet. [more]

It’s nearly October, and the temperature hit 100 degrees in North Dakota