Author: Ron Rothhaas

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

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Station Number:	OH-HM-5
Station Name:	Cheviot 0.9 SSE
Start Date:	6/24/2012
End Date:
Submitted:	6/24/2012 7:30 AM
Description:	2.16 inches of rain fell here on the first two days of June. Since then, June rainfall has totalled 0.65 inches over the past 22 days with low humidities on many days, several days in the 90’s, and drying breezes. Unirrigated lawns have turned brown this week, tree stress on younger trees is becoming visually evident, and corn is curled and soybeans are showing visible stress.
Drought Impact Categories:	Agriculture : $0.00 Plants and Wildlife : $0.00