It's been a wet summer, but no record-setter

Lush late-August lawns and amphibians crouching in normally dry gardens bespeak a wet summer - an impression well-supported by rainfall statistics.

“July and August have been exceptionally wet, but nowhere near a record - yet,” said State Climatologist Harry Hillaker.

As of Thursday morning, east-central Iowa had absorbed 5.09 inches of rain in the first 19 days of August and 6.61 inches in July - nearly 12 inches in 50 days and about double the amount that normally falls in that region in all of July and August, Hillaker said.

So far this year, the 10-county east-central Iowa region has recorded 31.04 inches of precipitation - about 31 percent more than the 23.7 inches that normally falls each year by Aug. 19, he said.

East-central Iowa would need another five-plus inches yet this month to threaten the August record of 10.15 inches recorded in 1987, Hillaker said. That 1987 record barely topped the 9.92 inches recorded in August 1993, the wettest year on record in east-central Iowa with a total of 53.38 inches of precipitation.

In 1993, the east-central Iowa region had recorded 43.69 inches of precipitation through Aug. 19 - almost 50 percent more than has fallen so far this year.

Last year, the second-wettest year on record with 48.24 inches in east-central Iowa, featured a July and August in which Mother Nature “turned the faucet off,” Hillaker said.

As wet as this summer has been, it has posed little threat of flooding because the rains have been well-spaced and well-absorbed by thirsty crops, he said.

Cedar Rapids had recorded 30.04 inches of precipitation through Aug. 19, more than 7 inches above the seasonal normal of 22.6 inches, while Iowa City's comparable figures were 28.16 inches and 25.28 inches, Hillaker said.

The state's rainfall records for the east-central region - which includes Benton, Linn, Jones, Jackson, Iowa, Johnson, Cedar, Clinton, Scott and Muscatine counties - date to 1890, Hillaker said.