Summer ends wet...technically, but seemed much drier

Columbus (WCMH) – Now that Autumn is officially here, we highlighted the forecast for the Leaf Color Changes yesterday. Today, I cover the rainfall and summer drought.

The summer warmth and dry weather we enjoyed will contribute to the color changes. However, when you look at the data, was Summer really dry?

In short, no. According to the data, Summer 2016 will go down as being 3 inches above normal for rainfall.

	Rainfall	Difference
June 21-30	4.17″	2.83
July	2.49″	-2.3
August	5.82″	2.5
Sept 1-22	2.11″	-0.01
Summer 16	14.59″	3.02

Heavy rainfall events make up a lot of the Summer rainfall:

We had 7 rainfall events this Summer that made up more than half of all the rainfall for the entire Summer.

6/23 2.75″
6/26 1.15″
7/22 1.07″
8/14 1.34″
8/28 0.81″
9/10 0.76″
9/17 0.73″

Hard to believe, but we actually ended May with no dry or drought conditions in the entire state:

Here is the May 31st update from the US Drought Monitor:

Dry finish to May/start to June is to blame for abnormally dry conditions in NE Ohio:

June 7th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

The 2nd week of June only got drier across the western part of the state:

June 14th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

The 3rd week of June saw 75% of the state now “abnormally dry”, up from 25% the week before:

June 21st Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Two big rainfall events, June 23rd and the 26th helped to lessen the dry conditions, now about 40% of the state is dry:

June 28th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

It would not last long, as July started cool, but dry. 53% of the state was dry.

July 5th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Dry conditions get worse quickly as temps start to rise into July, 61% of the state is dry, 14% is considered in a “moderate drought”:

July 12th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Drought conditions continue to get worse across the northern part of the state… we were days away from a good rain. 70% of the state was dry, 29% now in a moderate drought

July 19th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

We had a nice rainfall event on July 22nd, but the drought got worse. Now 76% of the state was dry, and 34% in a moderate drought

July 26th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

We got our first drought monitor for August, and the heat kept the drought going. Rainfall in the south lowered the “dry” area to about 70% of the state, but the dry air in the north expanded the “moderate drought to 43%:

August 2nd Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

For the first time in 4 years, we had 15% of the state now under a “Severe Drought”, 46% of the state at least in a moderate drought, and 75% was at least dry:

August 9th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Right before the next monitor was issued, some well needed rain fell, more than an inch. Here 69% of Ohio was dry, 26% was in a moderate drought, and 0% was in a “severe drought:

August 16th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Rain showers around the state continue to lower drought conditions in the state. As of this date, the dry conditions drop to 57% of the state, 22% of the state was in a moderate drought:

August 23th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Another good rainfall to end the month takes more of the state out of the dry/drought conditions. Here 54% of the state was dry, and 20% of the state was in a moderate drought:

August 30th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

Heading into September the drought conditions stay nearly the same this week. 54% of the state is still considered dry, but now 24% is under a moderate drought.

September 6th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)

We get another good rain event on the 10th of the month. Now, just less than half the state is dry (49%), and 18% of the state is under a moderate drought.

September 13th Ohio Drought Monitor (image from the US Drought Monitor)