Wettest June and Fifth Wettest Month on Record
By Russell Russ
We all thought May was a wet month. Well, it was, but June came in and nearly doubled May’s rainfall total. It was the wettest June and the fifth wettest month of any month in the last 82 years here in Norfolk. The previous June record was topped by June 19 and the rain continued through the end of the month. Typically June will have a couple of days with an inch or two of rain and the rest will come here and there in smaller amounts. Not the case this month which had seven days where rainfall was nearly one inch and even up to two and a half inches. When it rained it poured.
This year started out dry. At the end of April we were 6.50 inches below normal. At the end of May the deficit was 3.89 inches. Through June the total precipitation amount for the year was 30.40 inches and we went from a deficit of 3.89 inches to a surplus of 4.70 inches. No drought conditions here this summer.
With 13.38 inches of rainfall, this June is now our wettest June on record. It is followed by 1986 with 10.41 inches, 2009 with 9.53 inches and 1972 with 9.22 inches. This month was an impressive 8.59 inches above normal for rainfall. There were four days when thunderstorms were observed. One day alone had four pass through town. While the thunderstorms did bring heavy rain, the big story was the persistent tropical showers that came mostly without thunder and lightning. Many of these showers dumped large amounts of water in short periods of time. They were scattered downpours, but if you were in one you certainly knew it.
The month’s high temperature of 88 degrees was observed on June 1 and the low temperature of 44 degrees was observed on June 5. The average mean temperature was 64.9 degrees, 1.6 degrees above normal. There were numerous days in the mid to upper eighties, but no daily temperature records were broken. We have come close a few times, but the weather station still has not yet recorded a temperature at or above 90 degrees this year. Typically, we hit 90 or above two to three times a year. The all-time record for the weather station was 101 degrees set back on June 29, 1933.
