ZCZC ARBCLMDTW CXUS53 KDTX 041919 CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR DETROIT AUGUST/SUMMER 2001...REPEAT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DETROIT/PONTIAC MI 300 PM EDT TUE SEP 4 2001 ...HOT WEATHER EARLY IN THE MONTH LEADS TO 15TH WARMEST AUGUST... ...SOME HEAVY RAINS HELP ALLEVIATE EXTREMELY DRY CONDITIONS... AUGUST BLAZED IN WITH HEAT AND HUMIDITY ACROSS SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN. IN FACT...THE HOTTEST PERIOD OF THE SUMMER WAS ENDURED BY ALL FROM 5TH-9TH WHEN TEMPERATURES PUSHED WELL INTO THE NINETIES. THE PEAK OF THE HEAT CAME ON THE 8TH WHEN A SWELTERING 99 DEGREE READING SCORCHED THE LANDSCAPE. THAT 99 DEGREE READING BROKE THE OLD RECORD OF 97 SET BACK IN 1941. THE AVERAGE HIGH OF JUST UNDER 95 DEGREES FROM THE 5TH THROUGH THE 9TH WAS ABOUT 13 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS 13 DEGREE DEPARTURE MAY SEEM EVEN MORE IMPRESSIVE IF ONE CONSIDERS THAT EARLY AUGUST IS...CLIMATOLOGY SPEAKING...NORMALLY NEAR THE PEAK OF THE SUMMER HEAT /THE THIRD WEEK OF JULY IS WHEN OUR NORMAL HIGHS PEAK/. ALSO...EVEN AFTER THE SECOND WEEK...THE AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE STILL HELD CLOSE TO A HOT 90 DEGREES /89/. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 74.1 DEGREES /+3.6 ABOVE NORMAL/ PLACED THIS AUGUST IN 15TH SPOT FOR WARMEST AUGUST SINCE 1870. THIS PAST AUGUST WAS THE WARMEST AUGUST SEEN SINCE THE "HOT" AUGUST OF 1995 WHICH IS IN FIRST PLACE WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 77.1. THE HOT WEATHER ONLY AGGRAVATED THE DRY CONDITIONS ALREADY IN PLACE ACROSS SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN. HOWEVER...THE DRY PATTERN THAT PRETTY MUCH BEGAN LATE JUNE DID IN FACT...BEGIN TO ERODE LATE JULY INTO THE FIRST HALF OF AUGUST AS CONVECTIVE PRECIPITATION MADE ITS WAY INTO THE METRO DETROIT AREA. THEN AFTER MID MONTH...A FEW CONVECTIVE EPISODES CONTAINING HEAVY TO VERY HEAVY RAIN PRETTY MUCH HELPED TO ELIMINATE... AT LEAST IN MOST AREAS...THE EXCESSIVE DRY CONDITIONS AND REJUVENATE THE STRESSED VEGETATION. ONE SUCH EVENT WAS BROUGHT ABOUT BY A SLOW MOVING LOW PRESSURE AND ATTENDING FRONTS. THE SYSTEM MEANDERED ACROSS THE REGION OVER THE WEEKEND OF THE 18TH-19TH AND BROUGHT SCATTERED SEVERE WEATHER ALONG WITH SOME VERY HEAVY RAINS TO THE AREA. STRONG OR SEVERE STORMS WERE REPORTED IN MONROE...WAYNE AND OAKLAND COUNTIES. HEAVIER RAINFALL REPORTS INCLUDE....1.73 IN WALLED LK...1.71 IN W BLOOMFIELD...1.65 IN CLINTON TWP...1.40 IN PORT HURON...1.25 IN NORTH LIVONIA AND 1.10 IN SHELBY TWP. INTERESTINGLY...EVEN WITH THE FAIRLY WIDESPREAD MODERATE TO HEAVY RAIN ON THE 18-19TH (INCLUDING 1.25 AT METRO AIRPORT)...RAINFALL FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH STILL MANAGED TO COME IN BELOW NORMAL WITH ONLY 2.92 OF THE NORMAL 3.49 FALLING AT METRO. HOWEVER...AND LIKE MANY TIMES IN THE PAST...HIGHER AMOUNTS OF RAIN WERE OBSERVED AT SEVERAL OTHER LOCATIONS. ...SUMMER OF 2001...WARM AND DRY...THE OPPOSITE OF LAST SUMMER... ...A COOL AND WET START...HEATS UP AND DRIES OUT MID-LATE SUMMER... A MORE AMPLIFIED THAN USUAL AND GENERALLY PROGRESSIVE JET STREAM LEAD TO SOME INTERESTING VARIANCES IN OUR SUMMER WEATHER ACROSS SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN. THE SUMMER OPENED ON A RELATIVELY COOL AND WET NOTE WITH MEMORIAL WEEKEND'S COOL SNAP STICKING AROUND RIGHT THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK OF JUNE. ANOTHER WET BUT MUCH WARMER PERIOD DEVELOPED MID JUNE WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES RISING FROM THE 60S EARLY MONTH... TO THE 80S AND 90S BY MID MONTH. DURING THIS TIME...SEVERE WEATHER REMAINED ACTIVE WITH THE REGULAR CLASH OF OPPOSING AIRMASSES. HOWEVER... BY LATE JUNE...A DEFINITE PATTERN CHANGE EVOLVED THAT WOULD DOMINATE THE REGION THROUGH AT LEAST INTO EARLY AUGUST. OUR GENERALLY PROGRESSIVE PATTERN STALLED AS AN UPPER-LEVEL HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE BECAME A SEMI-PERMANENT FEATURE OVER THE EASTERN LAKES. THE RIDGE ONLY OCCASIONALLY GAVEWAY AND ALLOWED THE INTRUSION OF SOME REFRESHINGLY COOL CANADIAN AIRMASSES. IN FACT...AS THE FOURTH OF JULY APPROACHED...A RECORD LOW WAS SET WITH A 46 DEGREE READING ON THE 2ND. INTERESTINGLY... A RECORD LOW HAD NOT BEEN REGISTERED AT DETROIT IN JULY FOR 17 YEARS /1984/. WITH THE RIDGE DOMINATING...SEVERE WEATHER AND RAINFALL WERE KEPT LARGELY AT BAY WHICH RESULTED IN JULY BEING THE 11TH DRIEST ON RECORD WITH ONLY JUST OVER AN INCH /1.16/ OF RAIN FALLING. THE 1.16 INCHES DOES NOT TELL THE WHOLE STORY BECAUSE UP THROUGH THE 29TH...ONLY .32 HAD FALLEN WHICH BEAT THE DRIEST JULY ON RECORD BY .18 /.50 BEING THE DRIEST JULY/. A RENEGADE THUNDERSTORM WITH HEAVY RAIN ON THE 29TH DOUSED THAT DRIEST JULY POTENTIAL. SLOWLY THE RAINFALL EVENTS PICKED UP IN FREQUENCY THROUGH AUGUST BUT THE HEAVIER RAINS CAME MID-LATE MONTH. INSULT ADDED TO INJURY EARLY IN AUGUST AS THE ALREADY DRY LANDSCAPE WAS BAKED FURTHER UNDER SEVERAL /6/ 90 OR BETTER DEGREE DAYS. THE SUMMER AS A WHOLE SAW A TOTAL OF 13 90 OR BETTER DEGREE DAYS. THIS IS IN-LINE WITH THE NORMAL FOR A SUMMER WHICH IS 12. HOWEVER...IT IS STILL POSSIBLE SOME 90 DEGREE DAYS MAY SURFACE IN SEPTEMBER...SO THE TOTAL OF 13 IS PRELIMINARY. THE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 99 IN AUGUST/SUMMER OCCURRED ON AUGUST 8TH. THE LAST TIME THE TEMPERATURE FLIRTED WITH THE CENTURY MARK WAS BACK IN OUR HOTTEST SUMMER ON RECORD /1995/...WHEN THE TEMPERATURE HIT 100 ON JULY 14TH. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE SUMMER CAME IN AT 72.4... WHICH IS 2.2 DEGREES ABOVE THE NORMAL OF 70.2. WHILE THIS SUMMER WAS WARM...IT DID NOT PLACE IN THE 20 TOP WARMEST SUMMERS. IT DID COME CLOSE TO 20TH PLACE...HOWEVER...WHICH IS 72.5. LAST SUMMER THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AT METRO AIRPORT WAS ON THE NORMAL OF 70.2 (BUT MOST AREAS AWAY FROM DETROIT WERE NOTABLY COOLER). TOTAL RAINFALL FOR THE SUMMER AT 7.49 WAS NEARLY THREE INCHES /-2.73/ BELOW NORMAL. THIS SUMMER'S TOTAL WAS CERTAINLY A FAR CRY FROM LAST SUMMER'S WHICH CAME IN AT 14.96 OR A WHOPPING 7.47 HIGHER...SO BASICALLY DOUBLE THIS SUMMER'S! THIS REALLY SHOULD NOT COME AS ANY SURPRISE TO THE FARMER OR GARDENER IN SOUTHEAST LOWER MICHIGAN. THOUGH THIS SUMMER WAS DRY...IT DID NOT MAKE THE LIST OF THE 20 DRIEST SUMMERS ON RECORD. THE 20TH DRIEST SUMMER IN DETROIT STANDS AT 6.39 INCHES. ..................................................................... AUGUST - ...TEMPERATURES... ...PRECIPITATION... AVERAGE MAXIMUM ........... 83.7 MONTHLY TOTAL ........... 2.92 AVERAGE MINIMUM ........... 64.5 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... -.51 AVERAGE MONTHLY ........... 74.1 GREATEST IN 24HRS/DATES.. 1.25 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL .....+ 3.6 ON THE 18TH HIGHEST.......99 ON THE 8TH 2001 TOTAL...............18.89 LOWEST........57 ON THE 14/15TH/21ST DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL....-3.25 ...HEATING DEGREE DAYS... ...NUMBER OF DAYS WITH... MONTHLY TOTAL.............. 0 0.01 OR MORE PRECIPITATION.. 15 MONTHLY DEPARTURE..........-16 0.10 OR MORE PRECIPITATION.. 7 2000-2001 SEASON SO FAR.... 54 0.50 OR MORE PRECIPITATION.. 1 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL...... -7 1.00 OR MORE PRECIPITATION.. 1 ...COOLING DEGREE DAYS... ...SNOWFALL... MONTHLY TOTAL.......... 290 MONTHLY TOTAL.............. 0 MONTHLY DEPARTURE......+104 MONTHLY DEPARTURE........... 0 2001 SEASON SO FAR..... 801 2001-2002 SEASON TOTAL...... 0.0 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL..+230 DEPARTURE FROM AVERAGE...... 0.0 (SEASON AVERAGE)............41.2 PEAK GUST - SOUTHWEST-30 MPH/16TH ..................................................................... AUGUST 2001 CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR: THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST OFFICE...WHITE LAKE MI. ...TEMPERATURE DATA... ...PRECIPITATION DATA... AVERAGE MAXIMUM.... 82.1 MONTHLY TOTAL .......... 2.10 AVERAGE MINIMUM.... 58.8 GREATEST IN 24HRS....... .80 MONTHLY AVERAGE.... 70.5 ON THE 18-19TH 2001 TOTAL SO FAR...... 19.15 ...HEATING DEGREE DAYS... ...SNOWFALL DATA... MONTHLY TOTAL............ 5 MONTHLY TOTAL............ 0 2001-2002 SEASON TOTAL... 36 2001-2002 SEASON TOTAL... 0 ...COOLING DEGREE DAYS... MONTHLY TOTAL........... 182 2001 SEASON SO FAR...... 328 DEEDLER NNNN