Iowans can't complain about a wetter-than-normal July

SIOUX CITY — When's the last time you heard someone complaining about too much rain falling in the summer?

With frequent, plentiful rains across the state this summer — especially during a record-breaking July — Iowans aren’t quite to the point of asking for a respite from the showers that have fallen nearly every week since mid May.

The main complaint coming from some people is they have to mow their lawns more often than they're used to.

It's a welcome change from the past four summers, when the region was dealing with ongoing drought conditions and experts like Justin Glisan were the bearers of bad news when it came to rainfall forecasts.

"Everything is happy: vegetative, humankind, livestock," Iowa's state climatologist said. "I'm basking in that reprieve from the complaint department."

Even farmers, who can be skeptical — some might say pessimistic — when it comes to talking about weather conditions, have had very little to be upset about.

"Overall, my conversations with growers are pretty optimistic. It's a different conversation than we're used to," said Leah Ten Napel, a field agronomist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach in Le Mars. "We're definitely not used to seeing this amount of moisture in July."

Last month second-wettest July on record

According to records dating back 153 years, Iowa just experienced its second-wettest July on record (only 1993, which saw statewide flooding, was wetter), with average rainfall across the state of 9.20 inches, more than double the average of 4.17 inches, Glisan said. That comes after the 37th wettest June.

If you break the state down into its nine climate divisions, northwest Iowa had its fourth-wettest July, and north central Iowa its wettest. With 9.41 inches of rain, Spencer saw its wettest July ever recorded and the seventh-wettest of any month. The Clay County seat entered August with an annual precipitation total nearly 6 inches above normal.

Sioux City received 6.62 inches of rain in July, nearly twice the average of 3.35 inches. Making up for an April and May that were drier than normal, Sioux City exited July right around average for annual precipitation.

Cedar Rapids recorded 6.15 inches of rain in July, exceeding its average July rainfall of 4.41 inches.

Heavy rainfall totals were unexpected

What's made this rainfall run even more enjoyable is that many forecasters didn't really see it coming.

Glisan said the federal Climate Prediction Center's July precipitation outlook for the region was for drier conditions than normal. Glisan was a little more optimistic, given his observations, but he didn't expect what happened.

"We didn't know it was going to be this wet," he said.

Glisan said an unusually high southerly flow of air carrying moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico since May, combined with soil wet from previous rains, has led to favorable rainfall conditions.

"The Gulf moisture gate is wide open," he said.

We've also seen more moisture in the atmosphere from Pacific air flows.

You could say it's been a perfect storm for rain, but in July there weren’t many storms to speak of. The number of severe weather events in Iowa has been below average this summer — and for most of this year. The rainfall hasn't been accompanied by the hail, high winds, thunder and lightning Iowans are accustomed to seeing.

Instead, it's been a summer of steady rains spread out every few days that are keeping everything green and growing.

August through October lean toward drier weather

"Right now, we are looking pretty good for water," Ten Napel said. "We are at a really comfortable place."

And likely to stay there. Glisan said outlooks call for the first half of August to be warm and wet. We've already seen the wet part. Through Wednesday, Sioux City had received 1.82 inches of rain thus far in August, pushing the yearly total to 20.22 inches, above the normal of 18.70 inches.

Much of the state saw heavy rainfall over the weekend, with some areas of Eastern Iowa recording nearly 4 inches of rain from Saturday into Sunday.

The rest of August through October are leaning toward a drier signal, which would be favorable for harvest, Glisan said.

"Let's get August in the books, and then we can turn the faucet off for harvest," he said.

He'd get few complaints about that.