Salt Lake's August was wetter, hotter than normal

SALT LAKE CITY — The month of August was both warmer and wetter than normal, according to the Salt Lake office of the National Weather Service.

August was 0.5 of a degree above the average in temperatures, and rainfall was more than 2.2 times the long-term average.

Even though it was an extra-warm month, no 100-degree temperatures were recorded. The hottest day was Aug. 26 at 99 degrees.

Twenty of August's 31 days featured daytime high temperatures of 90 degrees or above.

However, despite the overall warmth, some cooler days also were recorded. Salt Lake's temperature was 16 degrees below normal on Aug. 30. Temperatures also were nine degrees below the overall averages on both Aug. 19 and 23.

There were also some notable daily temperature records set in August. For example, the Salt Lake City International Airport established a new record high minimum temperature mark on Aug. 27, when it only cooled off to 72 degrees overnight. That broke the old record of 71 degrees, set in 1996.

That same evening, Alpine, BYU, Randolph, Spanish Fork, Tooele and the Utah Test Range station also set or tied high minimum temperature readings.

Rainfall at the Salt Lake airport was 1.7 inches for the month. That compares to the average for August of just 0.76 inch.

In fact, all three months of the prime summer season — June, July and August — were above normal in temperature and moisture.

According to KSL meteorologist Dan Pope, the overall temperature for the three months ended up 2 degrees above normal, while precipitation was 0.55 inch above, or 125 percent of normal.

e-mail: lynn@desnews.com