July hot, dry; August might be, too

SALT LAKE CITY — Hot and dry.

That's the official description for July's weather in Salt Lake City — directly from the National Weather Service's local office.

Overall temperature averages were two degrees above the norm with July 16 the hottest day of the month at 103 degrees. The only other 100-or-higher degree reading was on July 18, when temperatures reached 100.

Daytime highs for the month averaged 92.6 degrees.

Bryce Canyon was chilly compared to Salt Lake City's higher-than-average temperatures. The area in southwestern Utah had two days of record-low overnight mercury readings, dipping into the high teens.

Precipitation for July at the Salt Lake City International Airport was 19 percent of normal — the area received just 0.14 inches of moisture, compared with the long-term average of 0.72 inches.

That small amount of moisture was spread out in five different storms on five separate days, even though there were thunderstorms near the airport on nine days during the month. It has been even drier in past Julys, with July of 1963 receiving only a trace of rain. That compares to the wettest-ever recorded July in Salt Lake City, 1982, when 2.57 inches of moisture fell.

Even though it was bone dry at the airport during July, Alta was the opposite. It got dumped on, with 2.84 inches of moisture, 162 percent of normal.

Hanksville and Hatch also received rain well beyond the normal levels, at 198 percent and 173 percent above normal, respectively.

In contrast, the KVNU radio station in Logan received only a trace of rain all month, while Utah State University was also unusually dry with only 0.4 inches of rain (4 percent of normal).

The airport also broke two weather records for the month and tied another — July 2 featured a record-high 72 degree overnight temperature, which broke the old mark of 70 degrees set in 2001. There was also another record-high overnight temperature, 76 degrees, on July 21. That eclipsed the former record of 75 degrees in 2007. The daytime high, of 103 degrees on July 16, tied a record set in 2005.

August is also expected to offer a sizzling start, according to NWS, with average temperatures being almost five degrees above normal thus far.

e-mail: lynn@desnews.com