John McGinley, Peak to Peak.August 2018: How bad can the drought get? A lot worse after an August with 25% of normal rainfall. The rain came in tiny amounts, too limiting how much could permeate the
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John McGinley, Peak to Peak.
August 2018: How bad can the drought get? A lot worse after an August with 25% of normal rainfall. The rain came in tiny amounts, too limiting how much could permeate the soil. Total was 0.55 inches, well below the normal of 2.18 inches. The monsoon could not establish itself as a series of upper level waves kept winds out of the west instead of the south-southwest as is typical in a normal August. The result was 7 days with rain each averaging 0.08 inches. We couldn’t even get two successive days with measurable rain.
Temperatures were above normal again and we were windier than usual. As you might expect we were under the gun for fires all month, but thanks to our excellent fire crews and observant folks we managed to stave off any major fires.
Precipitation: Total was 0.55 inches, far below the normal of 2.18 inches. The “Big” day was 0.20 inches on the 27th.
Temperature: Average high for the month was 76.8F with an average low of 47.4. These combined to make the month 2.5 degrees above normal, our sixth straight month so defined. High for the month was 84F on the 12th with the lowest high of 66F in the rain on the 3rd and also on the 19th behind a cold front. The front also brought the low for the month, 36F on the 20th. Some local folks had some frost that morning.
Winds: Three windy days, one associated with a thunderstorm, the two others with cold frontal passages. Peak wind was 44mph on the 3rd. Normally in August we don’t see winds 40+ mph and above.
Other features : Severe drought has crept into the area owing to a very disappointing monsoon. Otherwise the month was noneventful weatherwise.
Outlook for September: First let’s look at the statistics. A normal September has a high of 65F with a low of 37F. Average precipitation is 1.79 inches with about 4 inches of snow. Since it has been a long time since we have seen a “average” month it’s best to look at the NOAA Climate Center outlooks. For the most part we will be both warmer and drier than normal at least through the first 3 weeks. No surprise here. Late in the month we may see some above normal moisture but will stay on the warm side.
