Humid, But Relatively Average
By Russell Russ
After an extremely wet and very warm July, August came in fairly
average on all accounts. Unlike last year’s August which was very
summer-like, ranked as Norfolk’s warmest August on record and
also very dry, this August was basically average. It may be nice to
have a weather catastrophe to write about now and again, but it is
also nice to have an average month for a change. Highlight of
August was humidity and many cloudy days. Not the best highlight.
August’s low temperature of 47 degrees was observed on August
2. This was 3 degrees above the record low of 44 for that date,
which was set back in 1947. The high temperature of just 80
degrees was observed on August 13. August’s high was only 80
degrees and Norfolk hit that only once all month. That is unusual
for August, even in Norfolk. The monthly mean temperature of 66.0
degrees was 0.4 degree below normal. By comparison, August
2022’s mean temperature was 71.8 degrees, the warmest August
on record. The coolest August on record was in 1964 with 61.5
degrees.
The total precipitation recorded for the month was 4.19 inches,
0.41 inch below normal. August saw some rain, including two days
with thunderstorms, but fortunately there were no excessive
amounts like we saw in July. August did have more than its fair
share of cloudy days, likely keeping temperatures down. There
were numerous days with humid conditions. Not hot and humid,
just somewhat warm, cloudy and humid. Not the best summer
weather, but you cannot win them all.
The reigning champion of wet months for Norfolk is still the
infamous Flood of ’55 August of 1955 with 23.67 inches. Norfolk’s
driest August was in 1953 with just 0.65 inch, which was also
Norfolk’s fifth driest month of any month.
Through August, the total precipitation amount for the year was
43.05 inches, 8.70 inches above normal. Compared to last year’s
amount through August of 27.53 inches, this year has seen 15.52
more inches of rain. No drought talk this year.
September, through three weeks of the month, was above average
for both temperature and rainfall. A string of five days in the 80’s to
upper 80’s surely helped bring up September’s average. A high of
88 was recorded on September 7. The highest temperature all year
was 89 degrees on June 2. Other notable temperatures were 88 on
July 6 and 87 on April 14. There have been no days with 90
degrees or above recorded at the Norfolk weather station in 2023.
The average for that is two to three days per year. Better luck next
year for nicer summer weather. Now it is time to welcome autumn.