The Calm Before the Storm?

By Russell Russ                                                                              

For the last two years, June had offered some very nice summer weather for Norfolk. The weather this June was not perfect, but it was not all bad. On paper, it seemed very average, but it felt cooler and wetter than usual. The numerous cloudy days and seemingly constant moisture, but no huge rain totals, made one wonder where all the sunshine went. Early June brought some heat and humidity, just enough to remind us that it was summertime. A calm weather month is not such a bad thing.

The month’s high temperature of 89 degrees, one degree shy of a record, was observed on June 2 and the low of 42 was observed on June 7. With an average monthly mean temperature of 62.6, June was 0.8 degree below normal. Norfolk’s warmest June was in 1943 with 68.3 degrees; the coolest was in 1958 with 58.8 degrees. Perhaps the most notable weather condition this month was the smoke and haze from the Canadian wildfires. The odor and heavy haze observed early and late in the month was about as bad as it gets here in the Northeast. It’s a situation that we will need to get used to until the snows begin to fall in Canada and finally put an end to the seasonal fires there.   

The total precipitation recorded for the month was 4.94 inches, just 0.13 inch above normal. It seemed wetter, but it actually came in very average. The largest rainfall of the month, 2.19 inches, fell June 26-27 when Norfolk saw three rounds of thunderstorms. In all, six thunderstorms were observed in June. None were severe. Norfolk’s driest June was in 1988 when only 0.61 inch was recorded and the wettest was in 2013 with 13.38 inches.

For the first half of 2023, Norfolk’s total precipitation was 23.33 inches. This was 2.09 inches below normal through June. Many were saying in June that we needed rain. Be careful what you wish for…. 

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