July cooler, still above normal

While the official tally says July was an average of 1.8 degrees warmer than normal, the month felt cooler than past summers in the Spokane region.

In fact, it was the second-coolest July since 2001, said Ron Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Miller said he researched the data because it seemed to him that the month was cooler than normal.

“I was surprised to see that it was still above normal,” Miller said of the average of the highs and lows for every day during the month. “But if you look at past Julys, it explains why this one felt cooler.”

July 2007 averaged 7.1 degrees above normal, and the temperature topped 101 twice. The temperatures mostly hovered in the 80s and 90s except for a couple of days when the high fell short of 80, he said.

“This year, we had six days where we haven’t made it up to 80” for a high, he said. “It’s been awhile since we’ve had a July this cool.”

July 2005 had virtually the same temperature average – 1.5 degrees above normal.

But the average for July 2006 was 5.1 degrees higher than normal. That compares with 3.7 degrees above normal in 2004; 4.4 degrees above normal in 2003; and 2.8 degrees above normal in 2002.

The last time July fell below normal was 2001, when the average temperature was 0.2 degrees below normal, Miller said.

“When you look at these warmer summers, we’ll be above 90 for six or seven or nine days in a row,” Miller said. “This summer has been different.”

The region has experienced one or two hot days on the front ends of dry cold fronts that brought little rain but cooler temperatures, he said.

“That has also produced a lot more wind,” he said. “We’ve had a much breezier summer than what is typically seen around here.”

That, along with low humidity, has also made the high temperatures feel cooler, he said.

Cooler temperatures may have helped slow a fire season that started with a flourish, said Steve Harris, a spokesman for the Washington state Department of Natural Resources.

“It looked like we were going to have one of those Julys to remember,” Harris said. “It started crazy with the Valley View fire, but we had one of the slowest seasons we’ve seen during the second half of the month. I think the cooler weather probably did play into that.”

It’s too early to predict what will happen this month. While the forecast calls for highs in the low to mid-80s the next few days, the official long-range forecast for the region calls for temperatures that could be above, equal or below average.

“That’s the best they can give us, which isn’t a lot,” Miller said. “They are predicting below-normal temperatures along the Pacific Coast. But east of the Cascades … there’s no strong signal that it will be warmer or cooler than normal.”