Date: Sunday, September 12, 1999
Page: B10
Edition: SECOND
Section: LOCAL/REGION
THE SUMMER WASN'T AS HOT AS YOU MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT IT WAS * BUT IT WAS AS DRY.
JULY WAS THE DRIEST ON RECORD. JUNE WAS THE 4TH DRIEST.
By LAUREN ROTH, The Morning Call
In June, forecasts said the summer would bring near average rainfall and temperatures.
With July's extreme heat and dryness, the question has been: How hot and dry was it?
The normal average temperature for meteorological summer -- June, July and August --
is 71.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, N.J.
This summer's average was 73.3 degrees, according to weather service readings taken
at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Hanover Township, Lehigh County. That's not a
big difference, said weather service meteorologist Bill Goodman.
During June and August, temperatures were near normal, but in July, they spiked to
about 4 degrees above average. "It hasn't been an extreme summer," said meteorologist
Roy Miller. "The string of days 90 degrees or more in July just made it seem hotter." But
retired meteorologist Charles Giannetta, who takes his own readings in Bath, said the heat
was more than a mind trick.
He found a gap of 2.8 degrees between this summer's measurements and the average. "You get
above normal at about 1 degree. When you reach almost 3 degrees, that's pretty far up there."
In fact, Giannetta said this summer has been the hottest since 1986, when he began his home
measurements. July, with an average temperature of 78 degrees -- 3.9 degrees above average --
was the third hottest on record. It was topped by 1955 and 1949. But four of the seven hottest
Julys have occurred since 1980, according to Goodman. Goodman said the summer reminded him of
1988. "That was also a hot and dry summer." Goodman and Giannetta agreed that the summer was
very dry, causing crop failures across the Mid-Atlantic. Allentown got 5.13 inches of rain from
June through August, but it should have received 12.17 inches. June was the fourth driest on
record with .98 of an inch of rain. July was the driest ever with .33 of an inch.
Nearly 4 inches of the summer's rain fell during August. "If you substituted August, it would
have been one of the hottest and driest on record," Goodman said. At one point, the National
Weather Service predicted above average rain for the summer months, Goodman said. But those
numbers presumed an active hurricane season would bring precipitation to the Lehigh Valley.
Even this month, when the remnants of Hurricane Dennis moved up the coast and Harrisburg got
pounded, the Lehigh Valley "just missed out," Goodman said.
So what is in store for the fall months, considered by meteorologists to be September, October
and November? Things should be about normal, Goodman said. That means an average of 64.4
degrees in September, 53.5 degrees in October and 42.6 degrees in November. Precipitation,
including 1.7 inches of snow, should provide a liquid equivalent of 10.75 inches.
Fall officially will start at 7:31 a.m. Sept. 23.
But it has been a strange September so far, Goodman said. Temperatures have been nearly 5
degrees above average through Saturday, and it has rained 1.82 inches, nearly half an inch
above normal. This is because of a "muggy tropical air mass," which Goodman said meant that
"night temperatures didn't go down like they should have."
Those expecting a warm winter may be correct, despite predictions for an average fall.
Winter is forecast to have above average temperatures, but by a margin that may be
insignificant, Goodman said. "I wouldn't judge winter based on the fall. You can base
winter on December."
"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"