Some relatively cool conditions have settled over Iowa to end the month of June, similar to the way the month started.
But, State Climatologist Harry Hillaker says it was extremely hot nearly every other day.
“Overall, it’ll probably end up being just a little bit shy of being four degrees warmer than a typical June, which may not sound like a lot, but we’d probably have to go back to 1988 to find a June that averaged warmer than this one did,” Hillaker says. Statewide, the average temperature for June will wind up being close to 74 degrees. Hillaker expects this will likely be the 11th-hottest June in Iowa in 144 years of records. In Des Moines, temperatures reached the 90s on 13 of June’s 30 days.
“We had only one location in the state that managed to get to triple digits during June and that was the town of Little Sioux, between Council Bluffs and Sioux City on the Nebraska border. They hit an even 100 degrees on June 11,” Hillaker says. Rainfall amounts over the month varied widely, with the heaviest totals in northeast Iowa.
“Some areas up there had well above normal precipitation for the month. A few places are over 10 inches of rainfall for June, which would be roughly about double the usual amount,” Hillaker says. Other areas of the state received very little rain in June.
“The west-central and southeast corners of the state saw less than an inch of rain for the full month,” Hillaker says. “June is usually the most reliable month of the year for rainfall, so to get less than an inch is quite unusual,” Hillaker said. The U.S. Drought Monitor indicates “moderate drought conditions” exist over southeast Iowa and most of southern Iowa is abnormally dry.