July started slow but left no doubt about what month it is

July started out cloudy and threatening to continue June's late spring shower-fest. But as usual, July did in fact show up and it even got hot for a bit. After some sprinkles leading up to Independence Day, the last 28 of 29 days were bone dry save for that little sprinkle on the 8th. There was sunshine, there was heat but mostly there was glorious summer weather and that is why we love summer so in the Northwest.

My station had a few super hot days but nay did the high bust into the triple digits. My station peaked for the month on the 26th with a mark of 97.2°. Some local stations reported warmer temps even a few 100° marks, but not at my house. That scorcher was one of five days that managed to push the mercury over 90°. Thursday's 93.5° mark was the 7th day this year above 90° at my station. The overnight lows for July were well above average with 59.26° and the warmest morning low temp a nice and balmy 64.3° on the 30th. There's almost no point talking about the coolest temps but I mention them every month so here it goes: The coolest daytime high arrived on the 1st of the month with a pleasant 64.1°. The chilliest temp all month was the overnight low on the 25th when it dipped to a comfortable 54.2° Overall the daytime highs were just about spot on normal but the overnight lows were roughly 4° warmer than average. That made this July pretty warm by mean temp measurement.

The rain story was almost nil. A total of just 0.10 inch with half of it coming on the 8th. July is one of those months that doesn't really need to hit the average mark. July is routinely California dry. The average July precipitation of 1.02 inch is skewed by those occasional July storms that dump 2 inches in a day every few years. This was a typical July for rain.   

August is here and today is lovely with nice 80s and sunshine. Lets do it again Summer and just soak it up my friends, soak it up.