State of The Climate - July 2013

July was wet, at least for us. But how wet was it and how were conditions around the rest of the US? Here are a few of the highlights:

• The average temperature for the contiguous U.S. during July was 74.3°F, 0.8°F above the 20th century average, and ranked as the 30th warmest such month on record.

• Locations from the Central and Southern Plains into the Southeast were cooler than average. Four states:  Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee — had July temperatures that were among the ten coolest on record.

• The nationally-averaged July precipitation total of 3.47 inches was 0.71 inch above average and was the 5th wettest July on record for the contiguous United States.

• In the East, 13 states had one of their ten wettest July's on record, with the highest precipitation totals across the Southeast. Florida had its wettest July on record, with 12.38 inches of rainfall, 4.91 inches above average. The above-average precipitation in the Southeast resulted in widespread flooding and significant damage to crops.

• The Northwest was particularly dry. Oregon had its driest July on record with only 0.03 inch of rainfall accumulating, 0.41 inch below average. Washington had its eighth driest July. Below-average precipitationwas also observed in the Upper Mississippi River Valley, where Iowa had its tenth driest July.

• For the second consecutive month, precipitation was much above average across a large portion of the Southeast region. The wettest locations were found across the western Panhandle of Florida, the Upstate of South Carolina, and western North Carolina, where monthly totals exceeded 20 inches (508 mm) in places, or more than 300 percent of normal.