The month of August ended up slightly warmer than normal and drier than usual.
Clinton Area Weather Observer Jim Blaess says the overall temperature was 73.7 degrees. He says that’s 1.1 degree above the overall average.
There were five days with 90 degree or higher temperatures during the month and the normal is 4 days. Blaess says the highest temperature during the month was 94 on August 26th adding that tied the record for the date set in 1913.
The low temperature of the month was 54 on the 18th.
Blaess recorded 1.26 inches of precipitation during the month. He say that’s 3.15 inches below the normal for August of 4.41. This year will be the 14th driest August in the Clinton records to 1879 according Blaess.
The Weather Observer says there has been 21.75 inches of precipitation for the first eight months of the year. Blaess says that 2.17 below for the normal for the year-to-date.
Blaess says the derecho on August 10th lasted an hour and 37 minutes with sustained winds of 40 miles an hour and gusts up to 80 miles an hour at times and up to 130 miles an hour in local areas. He says it’s the longest duration of derecho in Iowa and locally.
In September, Blaess says the there is an average of 2.95 inches of precipitation. The average on the first is 81 and low is 60 and those drop to averages of 71 and 48 by the end of the month.
Last year September was the 4th wettest and 3rd warmest in Clinton weather records to 1878.
During the meteorological summer of June-July and August Blaess says the overall temperature was 2.1 degrees above normal. The weather observer says there were 16 days with temperatures of 90 or above and the average is 14. He says the precipitation was 1.58 inches below the normal for the three month period.
