Recent studies show that Bucks County summers are lasting longer, with more high-temperature days than in previous decades, writes Kasha Patel and Naema Ahmed for The Washington Post.  

Brian Brettschneider, a climatologist, conducted an analysis of the hottest 90 days of the summer from 1965 to 1994 and compared his data to 1995 to 2024.  

According to his study, New Hope’s summer is 13 days longer than it was 30 years ago. Riegelsville is also experiencing a change, seeing a 12-day increase in the length of its summer.  

Cities across the country are facing similar trends, with the southern region experiencing an additional two weeks of heat.  

The Mid-Atlantic and the Pacific Northwest have seen a moderate change, gaining a few additional hot days. Coastal spots have been hit the hardest by the heat, with cities like San Francisco seeing an increase of 42 days.  

“We know that the [latitude] of the sun isn’t changing necessarily,” said Michael Allen, a climatologist at Towson University. “Most of the changes are caused by the warming of the planet because of greenhouse gases being burned.” 

Summers have also become increasingly hotter, with studies from Climate Central showing a 2.6-degree Fahrenheit increase since 1970.  

Read more about how summers have lengthened over the last few decades in Bucks County and across the U.S. in The Washington Post.  

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