June is typically thought of as the start of the rainy season.
Well, at the start of June, it certainly lived up to that billing. Most areas were way above normal as storms occurred almost daily with some areas having heavy rain each day.
But then the switch flipped midmonth and we finished very dry. In fact, some areas didn’t see any measurable rainfall for the last 16 days of June! So despite the very wet start, most areas finished below normal for rainfall.
The main factor for our dry weather in the second half was a ridge of high pressure. That, combined with the lack of rainfall led to a very warm end to the month as well. In fact, Tampa hit 99 degrees last week, tying an all-time record high for the city.
Here is a look at the numbers by city:
Tampa
- Average Temperature: 84.0° (1.8 degrees above normal)
- Rainfall: 6.32” (0.36 inches below normal)
Lakeland
- Average Temperature: 82.9° (2.1 degrees above normal)
- Rainfall: 6.82” (1.20 inches below normal)
Bradenton
- Average Temperature: 82.8° (1.9 degrees above normal)
- Rainfall: 11.93” (4.42 inches ABOVE normal)
Brooksville
- Average Temperature: 80.9° (0.9 degrees above normal)
- Rainfall: 7.63” (0.02 inches below normal)
St. Petersburg
- Average Temperature: 83.9° (1.2 degrees above normal)
- Rainfall: 4.89” (1.49 inches below normal)
Looking ahead to July, our rainy season continues.
A normal July has between 6.5 and 9 inches of rain. The wettest was in 1960 when 20.59 inches fell. The driest was in 1981, when only 1.65 inches of rain fell.
July continues our warmest time of the year. The average high and low are 90 and 76. These types of temperatures continue into late August.
This week, we are seeing a return to tropical moisture and our rain chances will be increasing through the July 4th weekend.