By Barney Leach
July 2020 fell 0.19 inch short of tying the current July rainfall report with 8.70 inches of rain. The current record is 8.89 inches set in 2007.
We had four days with measureable rainfall with a greatest one-day total of 8.27 inches on July 7. The remainder of the month produced only 0.43 inch.
Our total rainfall for the year has reached 99.95 percent of normal for the entire year at 42.39 inches.
Normal rainfall through July is 24.21 inches. Normal annual rainfall for our area is 42.41 inches.
At this point last year, we had received 39.61 inches or 93 percent of our normal annual rainfall.
The year ended only 3.89 inches above normal at 46.30 inches.
Our record wettest July was 8.89 inches in 2007. The record driest July was 0.02 inch in 1997.
July temperatures were about normal with highs mostly in the low to mid 90’s.
High temperature for the month was 96 degrees on July 3, 12 and 13. Low temperature for the month was 73 degrees on July 4.
Looking ahead to August: August is normally our second hottest month of the year at about one degree cooler than July.
However, August often produces the hottest day of the year since temperatures normally peak around the mid-point of summer, which falls on August 6.
For the ten-year period from 1997 to 2006, the average daily high temperature peaked at 98 degrees on August 5 and 6, mid-summer on the dot.
August is also normally our second driest month of the year at 2.43 inches of rain.
Our record wettest August was 9.25 inches in 2008.
Our driest August was 0.00 inches in 2011 and again in 2019. August has been the only calendar month without measurable rainfall over the past 26 years.
