Iowans on average got a small break from the steamy temperatures of July. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says temperatures average two-tenths of a degree below normal for July and rainfall was about a quarter of an inch below normal. Hillaker says July may’ve seemed drier because of the timing of the rainfall. He says better than three-fourths of the rainfall for the month came in the first nine days, so the last three weeks were drier than usual. Hillaker says when you’re close to normal rainfall, that means some parts of the state were probably too dry, and some too wet. There weren’t many of the blazing hot July days that summer in Iowa sometimes produces. Hillaker says we really haven’t had many of those days all year. He says the first, and only, official 100 degree reading didn’t come until July 26 in Shenandoah and Sidney. Hillaker says July did see more natural fireworks. He says May and June has less severe weather than normal, but July made up for it with severe weather starting on the third and continuing throughout the month. Hillaker says he doesn’t have an exact count yet, but it looks like we’re still behind in the number of tornadoes typically seen in the state.
