August 31st marked the end to meteorological summer and September 1st marked the unofficial start to fall. There is still a little over 2 weeks left until astronomical summer ends & astronomical fall (equinox) begins which is on September 22nd at 4:44pm.
SUMMER STARTS COOL BUT LATER HEATS UP
We kicked off meteorological summer on June 1st and it was a rather cool start thanks to the passing of a few storm systems and series of cold fronts but the cool weather didn't last long and warmer temperatures invaded. A classic "Ring of Fire" pattern had also set up, where a hot dome (high pressure) would position itself in the western section of the midwest region and clusters of storms would ride along the outer periphery diving from the NW (Chicago) into Central Indiana. The pattern turn a little bit drier for July but more importantly August.
SUMMER TEMPS
Six out of the first ten days of June were below normal. The high of 68° on the 3rd was the last sub 70 high Indianapolis has seen since then and was the coolest day of the month. The day also marks the last time we've seen a sub 50 low (48°). Things began to warm up for much of the rest of June and a good chunk of July. We saw 18 days 80+ in June of which 10 days were 85+. Nearly 67% (20 out of 30) of June's days were at or above normal. The hottest temp in June was 89° achieved 3 times on the 22nd, 25th, & 27th.
In July, we saw a period of 70° days but this was after we saw a period of 90° days. Our 1st 90 came in on the 16th. We saw 4 consecutively from the 16th-19th and an additional 90 on the 23rd. There was 11 days throughout the month where temps failed to reach 80, of which 8 were at the end of the month occurring consecutively (24th-31st). The hottest temperature of July was 93° achieved 3 times consecutively on the 16th, 17th, & 18th. The coolest high temperature was 72° on the 1st. The coolest low temperature was a record 51° on the 28th which was the day of the Brickyard 400. This day's record low bested the previous record of 54° first set in 1971 and last tied in 2004. Nearly 55% (17 out of 31) of July's days were at or below normal. We actually started July as the coolest in 4 years with a high of 72°. July 31st (77°) marked the coolest last day of July in 21 years (1992-69°). It was also one of the coolest stretches of weather to end July in 42 years (1971).
In August, the month started off on the warm side (note the cool end to July). We got a nice string of 12 consecutive days w/ temps 80+. This comes directly after 8 consecutive days w/ temps in the 70s. From the 17-31st, highs were 80+ and in the midst of that we had 6 consecutive days with temps 90+. The high on September 1st reached 85° so this was the longest of such occurrence for so late in a season in 40 years, since the 10-day period from August 26–September 4, 1973.
On the 28th and 30th, temperatures climbed 1° above July's hottest 93°. A record low was tied for highest low temperature of 74°. The last occurrence for this event was 118 years ago in 1895. The heat didn't stop there. On August 31st, the high temperature reached 96° with a peak heat index of 105°. This was the hottest day of 2013 & hottest since 98° on August 8, 2012. It was also 1° shy from tying an 62 year old record temperature of 97° set in 1951 (later tied in 1953).
SUMMER PRECIP
Precipitation started good but dried up. We got 3.66" in June, 3.29" in July, and 1.15" in August. This put the 3 month summer rain total at 8.10". The normal amount is 11.93" so we finished 3.83" below normal. The wettest summer day was 1.43" from a storm complex on June 23rd. From August 10th-30th, Indianapolis went 21 consecutive days without measurable precipitation. This was the driest stretch of weather since last years streak of 24 days which started June 5th and ended on the 28th.
Overall, June finished with normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. July finished with below normal temperatures and below normal precipitation, and August finished with above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation. For the season as a whole, summer finished with below normal temperatures and precipitation.
The NWS Indianapolis, Indiana has a write up on the summer climate, copy and paste or click the following url address below:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=ind&storyid=96986&source=0
YEAR'S MONTHLY AVERAGES AND RANKINGS
| MONTH | AVG TEMP |
TEMP DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
TEMP RANKING |
TOTAL PRECIP |
PRECIP DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
PRECIP RANKING |
TOTAL SNOWFALL |
SNOWFALL DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
SNOWFALL RANKING |
| JANUARY | 29.9° | +1.8° | 58th Warmest | 5.51" | +2.85" | 16th Wettest | 2.4" | -6.2" | 35th least snowiest |
| FEBRUARY | 30.9° | -1.2° | 66th Coolest | 2.27" | -0.05" | 71st Driest | 2.6" | -3.9" | 46th least snowiest |
| MARCH | 35.5° | -6.7° | 14th Coolest | 1.96" | -1.60" | 30th Driest | 14.5" | +11.9" | 4th Snowiest |
| APRIL | 52.5° | -0.5° | 74th Coolest | 8.59" | +4.78" | 2nd Wettest | TRACE | -0.2" | N/A |
| MAY | 65.4° | +2.7° | 34th Warmest | 3.50" | -1.55" | 60th Driest | NONE | 0.00" | N/A |
| JUNE | 72° | 0.0° | 71st Warmest | 3.66" | -0.59" | 69th Driest | NONE | 0.00" | N/A |
| JULY | 73.9° | -1.5° | 30th Coolest | 3.29" | -1.26" | 71st Driest | NONE | 0.00" | N/A |
| AUGUST | 74.9° | +0.7° | 43rd Warmest | 1.15" | -1.98" | 12th Driest | NONE | 0.00" | N/A |
| JAN-AUG | 54.4° | -0.6° | N/A | 29.93 | +0.60" | N/A | 19.5" | +1.6" | N/A |
RAIN IS DOWN, PATTERN IS ABNORMALLY DRY & ITS BEEN 238 DAYS SINCE OUR YEAR'S TOTAL PRECIPITATION HAS BEEN BELOW NORMAL
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Though some lawns are crunchy this a huge change from this time last year. Last year, we had 24 consecutive days without measurable precipitation from June 5th-28th, 2012. This year we had 21 consecutive days without measurable precipitation which started August 10th and ran to August 30th. As of September 6th, 26 out of the past 96 days have seen measurable precipitation totaling 11.93" and we don't have any yet in the books for the month of September. We did get a good surplus of rain back in the Spring to keep the years number above normal but the fairly dry spell has put a dent in that. September 7th marked the first day since the beginning of the year, for the year's total precipitation to go below normal. Really you got to go back to the first 8 days of January. We had only received 0.02" of precipitation (& 0.3" snow). The average is 0.78" so after the first week we were running 0.78" below normal but a wetter pattern began to shape up the rest of the month, particularly to mention the 4 day wet period of the 10th-13th when a total of 3.81" of precipitation fell during that time. By the end of the day on January 13th, the months total was up to 3.83" which was 2.61" above the normal 1.22" we should have had to date. January finished with 5.51" of total precipitation (& 2.4" snow). January's total precipitation was 2.85" above the normal 2.66". Even looking into February, the first 17 days only recorded 0.30" of precipitation which was 1.09" below the normal 1.39" but thanks to a wet second half of January by February 17th, the years total precipitation (5.81") was 1.76" above the normal 4.05".
Here's the comparison between the drought map this time last year and the latest released a few days ago.
Here's a look at my updated Indiana rainfall deficit chart for select cities across the state.
| LOCATION | YEAR TO DATE PRECIP (thru Sept 7) |
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
PRECIP SINCE JUNE 1 |
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
MONTH TO DATE PRECIP |
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL |
| BLOOMINGTON | 30.36 | -3.56 | 11.35 | -2.67 | 0.04 | -0.69 |
| EVANSVILLE | 36.50 | +4.91 | 13.95 | +2.60 | 1.17 | +0.50 |
| FT. WAYNE | 32.34 | +4.82 | 14.67 | +1.95 | 0.00 | -0.68 |
| INDIANAPOLIS | 29.63 | -0.10 | 8.10 | -4.53 | TRACE | -0.70 |
| INDIANAPOLIS EAGLE CREEK |
27.49 | -1.68 | 8.65 | -3.71 | 0.00 | -0.52 |
| LAFAYETTE | 27.63 | +1.45 | 9.01 | -3.15 | 0.00 | -0.63 |
| MUNCIE | 24.88 | -3.65 | 9.07 | -3.99 | 0.00 | -0.72 |
| SHELBYVILLE | 21.44 | -9.55 | 9.13 | -4.08 | 0.03 | -0.68 |
| SOUTH BEND | 26.99 | +0.88 | 9.69 | -2.70 | 0.07 | -0.77 |
| TERRE HAUTE | 33.03 | +0.85 | 12.00 | -1.74 | 0.00 | -0.90 |
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