Word on the street is that we got cheated out of some of our summer here in the Inland Northwest.

Memories of snow this past June, plus the recent record low temperatures which greeted many folks on the first day of September, would lead me to share those same sentiments.

Surprisingly, temperature statistics over the last three months don’t paint such a chilly picture.

Using statistics for Spokane International Airport, temperatures in June averaged slightly below normal, but by less than a degree. July was the warmest month of the season, with an average high of 83.8 degrees, about 1.7 degrees above the normal for the month. And despite the fact that nearly half the month of August saw highs below 80 degrees, we ended the month with overall high temperatures .1 degrees above normal. There were several days with highs in the upper 90s to around 100 degrees that really skewed the monthly average upward.

September definitely started on a cold note, with many locations across northeastern Washington and North Idaho reporting morning lows at or near the freezing mark. Coeur d’Alene tied a record low on Sept. 1 with a morning reading of 38 degrees. The record was previously set back in 1913.

Low temperatures this time of year should be around 50 degrees. By the end of September, the average low slips to near 40 degrees. Average high temperatures start out around 80 degrees at the beginning of the month, and drop to 68 degrees by month’s end.

The September forecast from the Climate Prediction Center shows that below normal precipitation is expected for the month, though there is an equal chance for above or below normal temperatures. I will certainly hope for the warmer side of average – my tomatoes are just starting to ripen.

While the weather has been rather quiet in our neck of the woods, the tropical Atlantic has been extremely active. It is the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, which occurs in early to mid-September.

As I write this article, there have been 10 named storms so far, with four storms currently lined up one right after another. Tropical depression Gustav is bringing flooding rains to Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Kansas and even parts of Illinois. This goes to show that the remnants of tropical storms can have lasting and potentially devastating impacts far removed from coastal areas.

Right behind Gustav are tropical storms Hanna and Josephine, and hurricane Ike. The satellite imagery is really incredible to see. You can keep your eyes on the Atlantic by visiting www.nhc.noaa. gov/satellite.shtml. Through the magic of the Internet, you can also obtain all the latest information on hurricanes in both the Atlantic and Pacific by checking out the Web site of the National Hurricane Center www.nhc.noaa.gov/.

Though the tropical Atlantic looks quite “crowded” by storms at the moment, there have actually been two times in history where four hurricanes occurred simultaneously. This occurred on Sept. 25, 1998, with hurricanes Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl. That year also turned out to be the second-deadliest Atlantic hurricane season on record, with more than 12,000 fatalities from a total of 14 named storms.