Fall has arrived
By Russell Russ
The big weather news this month was – well, there really was not any big weather news this month, not here in Norfolk anyway. Last year we had record setting rainfall and much warmer than normal temperatures; this September was fairly normal. It was a bit unusual in the fact that we saw little to no effects from any hurricanes. Typically we see a frost or two in September, but there were no frosts at the station this month. The fall foliage season seemed to start just a little later than the past few years. Colors were in full swing by the latter half of the month and by the end of the month we were inching towards peak color.
The month’s high temperature of 81 degrees was observed on both September 1 and 7. The low temperature of 39 degrees was observed on September 24. The average mean temperature was 59.8 degrees, just one degree above normal. There were no daily or monthly temperature records set this month.
The total precipitation for the month was 6.34 inches, 1.62 inches above normal, but 6.91 inches less than last September’s total. There were two thunderstorms, both on September 8, and heavy rainfall on September 18, but other than that the rainfall was evenly distributed throughout the month.
Through September this year, the total yearly precipitation amount was 32.91 inches. This is 6.44 inches below normal through the month of September. We are gaining ground on our rainfall deficit. In comparison, through September last year we had received 62.37 inches, nearly twice as much as this year. Of course last year ended up being Norfolk’s wettest year in the last 80 years.
