Despite some record hot temperatures early this month, it appears September will wind up being cooler than normal. State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says Iowa had recorded 10 consecutive months of warmer than normal average temperatures dating back to last September.
“September will probably end up being about one degree cooler than usual,” Hillaker said. “Actually, it turned out near final numbers for August showed that month about three-tenths of a degree below normal. So, it’ll be two months in a row now with below normal temperatures, but neither one by all that much.”
The highest recorded temperature in Iowa this month was 98, which happened on September 4 in Indianola, Logan, Little Sioux and Sioux City. Little Sioux and Sioux City also posted record highs of 98 on September 11.
The lowest recorded temperature was 22-degrees on September 23 in Sheldon and Spencer. “We had a freeze over about 70-percent of the state that morning,” Hillaker said. That was the most widespread freeze, for that early in the season in Iowa, since 1983. The extreme drought continued in September, despite close to normal precipitation over the first two weeks.
“The month as a whole looks to be averaging about 1.63 inches of rain, which would be a bit less than half the usual amount for the month of September,” Hillaker said. “It would rank as our 18th driest September in 140 years and the driest September since 1990.”