A Combined Record Rainfall

By Russell Russ

June was a cloudy, cool and wet month with temperatures below average and rainfall amounts at near-record levels. There were 22 days with measurable rainfall and only two that were classified as mostly clear. It definitely was not a typical summer month for Norfolk. The month’s low temperature of 36 degrees was observed on June 1 and the high temperature of 80 degrees was observed on June 25. Although there were no individual records this month, it was the sixteenth coolest month of June in 78 years. The average mean temperature was 61.7 degrees, 1.6 degrees below normal. There was only one day where we reached 80 degrees. The total precipitation for the month was 9.53 inches, an impressive 4.83 inches above normal. It was the second wettest June, surpassed only by June 1986, which recorded 10.41 inches. There were six thunderstorms observed this month. One of the thunderstorms during the evening of June 15 produced a trace amount of pea-sized hail at the station. There were reports near Wangum Lake of a substantial ground covering of hail from that same storm. Through June this year, the total precipitation amount was 25.98 inches, 0.40 inches above normal. Compare that to May when we were 4.43 inches below normal. With 18 of 31 days recording measurable rainfall and only four that were classified as being mostly clear, July turned out to be another cloudy, cool and very wet month. It was Norfolk’s second consecutive summer month with near-record cool temperatures and near-record rainfall. The month’s low temperature of 46 degrees was observed on July 13. The high temperature of 82 degrees was observed on June 28. The average mean temperature was 65.1 degrees, 2.9 degrees below normal. It was the fifth coolest July in 78 years. Like last month, we topped 80 degrees on just one day. The total precipitation was 8.84 inches, 4.59 inches above normal. Norfolk’s wettest July on record was in 1996 with 11.47 inches. There were nine thunderstorms. Through July, the total precipitation for the year was 34.82 inches, which saw Norfolk 4.99 inches above normal. The official method to record rainfall for the National Weather Service is to include monthly rainfall only up to 8:00 a.m. on the last day of the month. If we were to take into account the rain that fell during the late morning to afternoon on July 31, the monthly total would have been 10.41 inches, making July the second wettest on record. Officially it was recorded as the fourth wettest. We did break one rainfall record however. With a combined rainfall total of 18.37 inches, it was the wettest June and July combined. This surpassed 1945 with 17.91 inches, 1986 with 17.31 inches and 2000 with 16.72 inches. Weather observations are recorded at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2 SW, by the Great Mountain Forest Corporation.