Summer water fun
© Lisa DeJong/The Plain DealerGeorge Hildebrandt, 10, of Rocky River, cools off as his neighbor Spencer Sheehan, 11, sprays him with the garden hose in Hildebrandt's front yard in Rocky River on Friday. July hasn't been a great month for frolicking in the water.

What is this, Christmas in July?

Not quite, but this unseasonably chilly midsummer month is about to break cold-weather records throughout the Midwest -- some more than 100 years old.

Meteorologists from Madison, Wis., to Chicago to Toledo, Akron and Columbus -- and dozens of cities in between -- are watching their thermometers as the month winds down.

By the end of the day Friday, they'll likely boast the coldest July on record.

In Toledo, that would fell a mark set back in 1894. In Akron, a record from 1904.

In Milwaukee, the record about to fall is older yet -- a daily average of 66.7 set in 1891.

"And we've got one more little shot of cool weather yet to go this week," said Martin Mullen, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Cleveland. "It's going to be awful close when it comes to setting those records."

And you can blame -- or thank, depending on how you feel about it -- the jet stream, Mullen said.

"Basically, it's set up a storm track across central Canada that pushes low-pressure cells into the Great Lakes region," he said. "It's really unusual to have this many of them keep coming across, but it's happening and it's breaking records."

Except -- believe it or not -- in Cleveland.

While much cooler than average, we're on pace right now to only crack the Top 10 for record low July months.

Our average so far in July is 69.2 degrees -- tied for ninth-coolest. The record month, 67.6 degrees in 1960, is probably safe, although forecasters are calling for highs in the 70s and lows in the upper 50s again by week's end.

Some meteorologists say because Cleveland is on the south side of Lake Erie, the warm lake waters have a moderating effect, though other lake cities like Chicago and Erie, Pa., are on pace for record cold July months.

"Still, it's very possible that the lake has kept the overnight low temperature a little higher in Cleveland -- that, and the suburban sprawl keeping the heat in," said Jeff Rogers of Ohio State University, the state climatologist for Ohio.

But don't get any ideas about predicting winter weather from this anomaly: A cool July won't have any impact on next winter in Cleveland.

"It's an unrelated pattern," Mullen said. "This is just an enduring low-pressure system for this summer. Winter will have its own characteristics."

And one cool July -- even across much of the middle of the country -- doesn't put the kabosh on global warming either.

"In fact, there have been studies recently that say there will be periods of cooler than normal within the overall warming," Rogers said. "People will point to this as an end to warming, but it's only one month -- it's long-term trends that matter."

Tell that to all of us on the Great Lakes waiting for summer to arrive.