THE TALE OF THE TAPE....
It probably comes as no surprise that the merry month of June ended up warm and dry over most of my region. Here's the tale of the tape thanks to the NWS Quad Cities.
The warmest part of the area was the north, which coincidentally was the driest. Most spots were 3-4 degrees above normal with Moline and Dubuque cracking the top 10 list for driest Junes.
Rain became a bit more generous the last 10 days of the month after a very dry start, especially near and north of I-80. Even with 2-3 inches of rain in that period the only area to average above normal precipitation was the far south (down around HWY 34) where Burlington, Iowa ended up .31 inches above normal. Here you can see where the bulk of the rain fell during June.
These are the temps again showing that trend for readings to be cooler in the south where rain was the heaviest and clouds were frequent. Still, it was a warm June for all of the central Midwest.
That brings me to the latest drought monitor and it still shows abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions in my northwestern counties. The south though is now considered close to normal on soil moisture and no drought conditions are indicated there.
Here this weeks analysis (on the left) vs last weeks (on the right). If you look close you can see the dryness inched a little northwest. Overall, not a lot of obvious change.
Well, one thing's for sure and that is the fact July got off to a fantastic start with cooler temperatures, lower humidity, and a nice fresh breeze.
Going forward through the holiday weekend the only real challenges will be temperatures. Pleasant, dry , low humidity conditions will last through Saturday with highs mainly in the range of 83-87. Sunday and Monday temperatures and humidity increase so it will be warm and sticky but nothing that's out of line for early July. Also, it still appears as though dry weather will hold until Monday night at the earliest so conditions look fine for fireworks and outdoor activities. Here's the EURO meteogram for Cedar Rapids through the holiday and into next week. This looks representative of the rest of my area as well.
With that, I say let the festivities begin. Time to make up for the 4th of July we lost last year due to Covid. Have a safe and happy holiday weekend and of course, roll weather...TS
