Warm and Dry

By Russell Russ

June was a fairly pleasant summer month. The trade-off with having beautiful weather is that it can become very dry with such little rainfall. While many other parts of the region did record decent rainfall, even impressive rainfall, Norfolk kept being missed by the larger storms. On numerous occasions the storms either fell apart just before hitting town or just missed town on their way through the state. Lawns turning brown and brooks becoming nearly bone-dry by mid-June are not good signs. Hopefully, later in the summer, the storms will find Norfolk and provide some relief from its growing precipitation deficit.

June’s low temperature of 37 degrees was observed on June 1. A low temperature of 38 degrees on June 14 was a new record low for that date (previous record was 41 degrees in 1933). The month’s high temperature of 90 degrees on June 22 was a new record high for that date (record was 88 degrees in 1943). June 22 was Norfolk’s first day this year with a temperature of 90 degrees or above. On average, Norfolk reaches 90 or above just two to three times each year. The average monthly mean temperature this month was 66.0 degrees, 2.6 degrees above normal. This places June 2020 tied with June 1994 as Norfolk’s ninth warmest June over the last 89 years. Norfolk’s warmest June was in 1943 with 68.3 degrees, and the coolest was in 1958 with 58.8 degrees.

The total precipitation recorded for the month was just 2.13 inches, 2.71 inches below normal. It was Norfolk’s 11th driest June over the last 89 years. The driest June was in 1988 when only 0.61 inch was recorded. The wettest June was in 2013 with 13.38 inches. There were two relatively small thunderstorms this month, on June 6 and 29.

 For the first half of 2020, Norfolk’s total precipitation came to just 17.78 inches. This was 7.73 inches below normal though the month of June. Let us hope that things turn around and we pick up considerably more rainfall in the coming months. The years of 2016 (third driest) and 2015 (eighth driest) were recent back-to-back very dry years. In comparison, 2020 has been drier than both of those years through the month of June. We could be looking at a very high ranking dry year this year. Stay tuned and wish for rain.

An early look at July through July 24 showed that summer’s heat and humidity really set in. While July is historically our warmest month of the year, this July so far was much warmer than usual. With just a week to go until the end of the month, July stood at just 0.1 degree away from being the warmest July, and also the warmest month of any month, over the last 89 years. In recording an impressive 93 degrees on July 19, Norfolk topped the 90-degree mark for the second time this year. We finally did get some much needed rainfall with a few days of stormy weather, complete with a couple of good thunderstorms. We were still about an inch below normal for the month, but at least some rain had found its way into town, and we won’t be recording another high-ranking dry month.

Weather observations are recorded by the Great Mountain Forest at Norfolk’s National Weather Service Cooperative Weather Observer Station, Norfolk 2 SW.