Warm temperatures put September in record books

SALT LAKE CITY — The month of September was "warm and very dry," according to the National Weather Service.

The month's average temperature ended up 3.7 degrees above normal and the precipitation was just 7 percent of normal.

Many different high temperature daily records were set throughout the month in Utah, but the airport's all-time high monthly record of 100 degrees on Sept. 8, 1979, was not challenged.

The month featured high temperatures at the Salt Lake International Airport of 95 degrees on both Sept. 4 and Sept. 19.

The lowest temperature of the month was 43 degrees on Sept. 6. That didn't come close to the all-time record of 27 degrees on Sept. 18, 1965.

The airport also set a daily low temperature record on Sept. 6, by chilling overnight to just 43 degrees, eclipsing the 44-degree record set in 1943.

Zion National Park was the weather anomaly of the month, setting five high-temperature records on consecutive days, Sept. 26-30. The high point was 105 degrees in Zion, on Sept. 28.

Zion also has set one high-temperature record so far this month, sizzling at 97 degrees on Oct. 3, two degrees above the previous record in 1993.

The airport received just 0.09 inch of moisture during the month, making it one of the driest Septembers ever. However, a trace of moisture in September of 1951 remains as the all-time record.

Other parts of the state were even drier.

For example, Delta and Fillmore were both bone dry, with zero rain coming down, compared to normal amounts of 0.78 and 1.09 inches respectively.

Richfield only benefited from 2 percent of its normal rain, while Nephi had just3 percent.

Alpine fared the best in Utah, receiving 62 percent of its normal moisture, with 0.86 inches of rain. No other Utah weather stations exceeded the 50 percent mark for their average moisture during the month of September.

— Lynn Arave