Cool June sets records

Thu., June 14, 2012

RandyMann

Although the calendar says June, our weather last weekend felt like April.

On Saturday, temperatures were more than 20 degrees below normal. At the Spokane International Airport, it was only 51 degrees, a record-low maximum reading. The old record was 56 degrees for a high set back in 1959. In Coeur d’Alene, it was a chilly 49 degrees, also a new record. The old record was 53 degrees set in 1938.

The first nine days of June were some of the wettest in recorded history across many areas of the Inland Northwest. As of early Tuesday, 1.19 inches of rain has fallen for the month of June. In the northwestern portion of Coeur d’Alene, the total amount of moisture for June is 2.68 inches.

For the season since Jan. 1, the airport has received 11.32 inches of rain and melted snow. The normal for this date is about 8.25 inches. Last year at this time, Spokane had picked up about 10.7 inches of moisture.

While we’ve seen cool and wet weather, wildfires have been raging in New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming due to dry and windy weather. Unfortunately, not much moisture relief is in sight for those areas.

Last week, I mentioned that we could see a fairly active tropical storm and hurricane season in the Atlantic and Caribbean waters. Perhaps this is an early indication as very heavy rainfall was reported along the Panhandle region of Florida last weekend. West Pensacola, Fla., reported an amazing 21.7 inches of rain in about 24 hours. This event was not caused by a tropical storm, but from moisture moving in from the Gulf of Mexico.

There was substantial flooding in the southern part of Escambia County, along the Gulf of Mexico. There was a wide range of rainfall intensity in that region as Destin, another coastal community, picked up only an inch of rain.

I do see some relief from the wet and cool weather pattern. We’ve already experienced warmer temperatures over the last few days, but there’s still the threat of showers and a few thunderstorms into next week. By late June, we should warm up into the mid- to upper-80s.

If you have any questions or comments, you can contact Randy at www.facebook.com/wxmann, or go to www.longrange weather.com for additional information.