August goes down as dry, hot

"Dry with near normal temperatures." That's the official description of the month of August's weather by the Salt Lake Office of the National Weather Service.

While the mean monthly temperature was 0.1 degrees below normal, the monthly daytime temperatures were actually almost a degree above normal and nighttime temperatures averaged a degree below normal.

The hottest recording in August was 101 degrees on Aug. 22 and the coolest was 49 degrees on Aug. 16.

However, so far in September, the overall daily average temperatures have been almost seven degrees above normal.

After six of 11 days in September with 90 degree or higher scorching days, are we done with the 90s yet? Maybe. Temperatures are expected to stay in the mid- to upper 80s through Sunday and then drop to a predicted 81 degrees on Monday and only 78 on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Next Thursday's temperatures could climb back into the low 80s.

The normal high temperature for this time of year is about 80 degrees and the low about 54.

Moisture-wise, the month of August featured only 0.40 of an inch of rain at the Salt Lake Airport — just 53 percent of normal.

(Driest August on record in Salt Lake was in 1944, with only a trace of rain.)

So far in September, the airport has received only a trace of moisture, from a single storm on Sept. 6 and that's it — a bone-dry month so far.

The next chance for moisture is a 20 percent chance of rain Sunday night, under mostly cloudy skies. There's a 30 percent chance of rain on Monday and additional chances for more moisture through Thursday of next week.

Despite the airport being below normal for moisture during August, a few areas in Utah exceeded their normal rainfall. For example, Boulder was 120 percent of normal moisture with 1.80 inches and most of Logan was between 133 percent and 168 percent of normal, with more than an inch of rain.

e-mail: lynn@desnews.com