Second wettest summer in Eastern Iowa

With the season two-thirds gone, this summer looks a lot like the famously wet 1993.

“That's the only other year where the two (months' rainfall) totals were more than this year,” State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said of June and July rainfall.

Preliminary reports from 170 official stations show a statewide average of 7.93 inches of rain last month, 3.68 inches more than usual. That's the second-wettest July on record, trailing only July 1993's 10.5 inches.

Add June's 10.45 inches statewide, it's the fourth-wettest summer on record, “with a whole month to go,” Hillaker said. The state averaged 8.09 inches of rain in June 1993.

“We may already have moved up a notch with what happened this morning,” he said.

The state's average daily temperature July was 75.3 degrees, about 1.5 degree warmer than normal. That preliminary total would make it the 45th-warmest July.

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City were wet, but cooler than average last month.

Cedar Rapids' average daily July temperature of 74.2 was 0.2 degree cooler than normal, its 6.36 inches of rain 2.3 inches above average. Iowa City's 76.6-degree average temperature was 0.3 degrees cooler than usual, and its 5.03 inches of rain was 0.49 inch wetter than average.

Hillaker said cloudy skies kept the area's temperatures down.

Hillaker's office is still collecting data, but he expected Oelwein will be the state's wettest spot last month. The city's official reporting station received 20.33 inches of rain.

This summer's rainfall so far exceeds that of June-July 2008, but warmer temperatures produced more evaporation, preventing the widespread floods of two years ago.

“That's helped reduce the flooding somewhat, but obviously if you get 13 inches of rain in 24 hours it's going to flood, regardless of how warm it is,” Hillaker said.