Month: July 2012

Some areas got inches of rain this week.  I think a majority got a decent rain.  However, it was highly variable and it is important to note that some areas got very little.  While CVG got ¾ inch last weekend, they got only about ¼ inch this week.  I had 0.54 the past few days.  Hardly a drought buster.  Eastern and northeastern areas of the metro got several inches.  I would not be surprised to find spots with 5 or 6 inches.  The importance of measuring what your yard got!  Now, more heat and only spotty rains over the next week.  The beat goes on.



As the brutal heat wave and drought continues and worsens, temperatures Saturday may rise to within a few degrees of the hottest temperature ever recorded in Cincinnati (104 is forecast, 109 is the all time record but that was recorded on the roof of the post office downtown!).  The weather pattern this year has pre-disposed us to brutal heat, but widespread drought over a large part of the country also allows the ground to heat up and the air above it.  Relief next week, but the dry pattern continues and more heat may return in a week or so.

 

This is not near the worst drought we have seen.  We saw severe to extreme droughts in 2007, 2008, and 2010.  The 2007 drought lasted for 7 months.  This is a very large drought encompassing most of the country.  Cincinnati is only in a marginal, but worsening, drought here at this time: 

http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ 

http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/regional_monitoring/palmer.gif