Drippy June leads to Sunny Summer

June was a bit on the wet side with cooler temperatures overall than typical. There was one heat wave with temps that should have been record breaking but they landed on the exact same weekend as last years HYPER-HEAT event and those records will last a lifetime. Despite the wetter than average June the month followed the classic "Rose Festival low format with cool, cloudy, and drippy skies for the first three  weeks followed by summer-like weather to close the month. You can set your watch to that late spring low pressure trough, every year it seems and this year was no different. 

Temperatures were mostly mild averaging 55.7º low and 72.9º highs the latter was spot on "normal" and the overnight lows were about 3º above normal likely due to extra cloud cover. The warmest temp I recorded was a toasty 98.1º on the 26th well below the crazy 107.1º recorded a year earlier. That was one of three days with temps above 90º all three in a row that same weekend. A warm overnight low of 68.4º was recorded that night the warmest of the month but falling short of the record, again posted last year. That was one of three nights where the temps remained above 60º. The coolest measurement came on the 7th with a 48.9º mark one of just two days that dipped below 50º. The chilliest daytime high was a brisk 58.1º recorded on the afternoon of the 13th. It was one of three days in June that failed to reach 60º. It was also the coldest daytime high I have ever recorded on that date, the June record is 53º. 

June produced three days above 90º, 7 days above 80º, and 16 days above 70º. Typical I suppose for June. 

On the precipitation side of the weather June was wet with a solid 3.69 inches of rain versus my local normal of 2.47 inches. This soggy spring has made up for the dry-ish winter as my local totals are now at normal with 27.8 inches in the bucket measure against a typical 1st half total of 28.5. The wettest days was the 11th when a gusher of 1.49 inch fell which was one of four days over 0.25 inch. We had 11 rainy days against 9 sunny days and the rain spigot shut off on June 20 allowing for 10 straight dry days. 

Late spring wet weather often leads to flooding as mountain snowmelt in late spring can swell rivers and streams without the help of any rain. Add a foot of spring rain and things get dicey. This year the mighty Columbia crested its banks for the first time in years hitting flood stage in the middle of the month. Little to no damage but none-the-less watching the largest river in the Eastern Pacific crest its banks is a bit unnerving.

July started off with some morning clouds opening up to yet another sunshiny day! Soak it up my friends, soak it up!

Soggy Flowers this May

Wow May was more like April and last April was more like March. We seem to be a month behind this year. Overall the Month was pretty typical overnight but quite a bit chilly by day relative to my historical average. And... yes... there was this... 4.95 inches of rain which is WAY above the typical 3.25 inches at my location. 

Temps were mostly chilly averaging 4 degrees under normal by day and just a smidge above by night. I had just four days above 70º including the warmest day of the month on May 31st at 75.3º. Every single afternoon managed to poke up above 50º but on the 8th just barely with the chilliest afternoon high of 50.8º which was a daily record cold high temp. 11 days failed to reach 60º last month. 

Overnight lows were a tad above average likely due to all the cloud cover. The coldest low temp came on the 9th with a 39.7º mark one of two sub 40º mornings. 30's in May are unusual but neither of last months managed to break a daily record. The warmest overnight low came on the 15th and that was a daily record at 57.4º. 

Precipitation was the real story last month. For the second straight month we were way above average for rainfall. May came roaring in with the aforementioned 4.95 inches in the bucket. 18 days with measurable precipitation against just 2 sunny days and I am being generous there ;) Five days delivered more than a 1/4 inch of rain and the wettest day was the 7th when nearly an inch fell at 0.98 inch. With the exception of yesterday and the 21st every single day was either rainy or threatening rain.

June is starting off a bit similar but a tad warmer. The first half of June is notoriously cloudy and damp round these parts but we will see if April and May squeezed out most of June's precipitation. You never know.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.