Iowa’s June weather may be preview for July

Dry appears to be the best weather word to describe the month of June according to State Climatologist Harry Hillaker. Hillaker says most of state was “quite a bit drier than usual”. While all the numbers aren’t in, he says the statewide average was about two-point-four inches, while normal rainfall is about four inches. It’ll end up the ninth driest June on record. Hillaker says there were some areas that fell well below the statewide average. He says there were a number of locations in west-central Iowa that had under one inch of rain, while some areas in northeast Iowa had more rain than normal. Hillaker says there was some heat to go along with the dry conditions. Hillaker says we were about one to one-and-a-half degrees warmer than normal. He says the first part of the month started out warmer, and things were closer to normal at the end of the month. Hillaker says 2006 is off to an overall warm note. Hillaker says the first half of the year has been warmer than normal as we had a near record warm January, April was above normal and none of the months have been cooler than normal. Rainfall has not been in abundance so far this year. Hillaker says we’re about an inch to an inch-and-a-half below the normal rainfall so far this year. He says May and June led to most of the deficit as they were dry months. Hillaker doesn’t think the start of the second half of this year to see much change in the weather pattern. He says the overall outlook calls for warmer and drier weather. Hillaker says the weather patterns don’t change much this time of year, so it’s a safe bet it will continue to be warmer and drier than normal. Hillaker says one good note is that we’ve passed through the major severe weather months, and can probably expect fewer severe storms into July.