State records show a cooler than normal August

DES MOINES — Fall will arrive later this month and the state’s climatologist says the summer is wrapping up much like August did, cooler and drier than normal.

Justin Glisan says August proved to be relatively uneventful in Iowa as far as tornadoes and other severe weather. “Our statewide temperature was about 70 degrees on average, about a degree-and-a-half below average, so we were cooler than normal across the state,” Glisan says. “In terms of precipitation, we had about three-and-a-half inches of rainfall across the state, and that’s about three-quarters of an inch below average.”

Autumn will arrive September 23rd and the summer is concluding much as August did, cooler and drier than the norm. Summertime temperatures for the state are averaging right around 71 degrees, which is a half-degree below normal. “The highest precipitation month is June and then July,” Glisan says. “We had about 10.74 inches of rainfall and climatologically, we expect a little over 12 inches, so we were about 1.3 inches below average, so drier again across the state.”

Despite all of the flooding in Iowa this spring, parts of the state are now showing up on the drought monitor as abnormally dry. As we look to fall, Glisan is predicting a slight change from the current pattern, as more rain is possible. “For much of the Upper Midwest, we’re trending below average for temperatures and then a good chunk of the western part of the United States, including Iowa, has an increased probability of wetter-than-normal conditions,” Glisan says. “This will help us in terms of where we’re seeing abnormal dryness across the state and then moving into harvest.”

He says there’s no indication of rain day after day after day, as we saw in late September into October of last year, which created a hindrance for the harvest.