Near Record Rainfall

By Russell Russ

June was a cloudy, cool and wet month with temperatures below average and rainfall amounts at near record levels. Out of June’s 30 days there were 22 days with measurable rainfall. There were only two days that were classified as mostly clear. It definitely was not a typical summer month for Norfolk.

The month’s low temperature of 36 degrees was observed on June 1 and the high temperature of 80 degrees was observed on June 25. There were no individual days with temperature records this month, but it was the sixteenth coolest month of June in the last 78 years. The average mean temperature this month was 61.7 degrees, 1.6 degrees below normal. There was only one day with a high temperature at or above 80 degrees.

The total precipitation recorded for the month was 9.53 inches, an impressive 4.83 inches above normal. It was the second wettest month of June in the last 78 years, surpassed only by June 1986 which recorded 10.41 inches. There were six thunderstorms observed at the station this month. One of the thunderstorms during the evening of June 15 produced a trace amount of pea-sized hail at the station. There were reports near Wangum Lake of a substantial ground covering of hail from that particular storm.

For the year 2009, through June, the total precipitation amount was 25.98 inches, 0.40 inches above normal. Through May we were 4.43 inches below normal.