Summer sizzles in Utah, and raindrops are usually in short supply. Our shift in seasons from spring to summer is dramatic. April and May are our two wettest months of the year, and our temperatures are in the delightful 60s and 70s. Then we hit June. Wow! That's when Mother Nature's faucet shuts off to a trickle and the temperatures skyrocket quickly into the 80s, 90s and a few 100s.
The summer months of June, July and August are our three hottest months of the year. In June the average rainfall is only .77 inches, in July only .72 inches, in August only .76 inches. The maximum record rainfall in June was 3.84 inches in 1988, in July 2.57 inches in 1982 and in August 3.66 inches in 1968. The record minimum for all three months was only a trace, which occurred in June 1994, July 1963 and August 1944. The days for the greatest historical chance of rain and the percent of chance are June 1 (33 percent chance), July 30 (19 percent chance) and Aug. 14 and 15 (26 percent chance). In fact, the average May rainfall of 2.09 inches almost equals the total rainfall of 2.25 inches for the months of June, July and August!
There aren't very many rainy days in summer, but every once in a while a summer month can get soaked. The number of days in the summer that average .01 or more precipitation are five days in June, four days in July and six days in August. The records set for those months are 17 days in June 967, 12 days in July 1936 and 13 days in August 1945.
The number of days in which precipitation measures .10 or more is three days in June and only two days in both July and August. The record for days of precipitation was eight days in 1998, six days in 1965 and seven days in 1982.
Now that you know how many days of rain each month usually has, here is a weather activity for you:
On a calendar, put an X on the days of each month that you think it will rain. Then track each month and put an O on the days that do get rain. Write inside the O how much rain fell. Now compare each month with the averages and records shown above. Were there any new records?
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Thunderstorms are the big bullies in summer weather. They push and shove a lot with strong gusty winds. Lightning flashes through the sky, and loud thunder pounds our ears, along with heavy rain and sometimes hail, too. Thunderstorms can be anywhere from just plain big to unbelievably colossal. Some thunderstorms have grown to heights over 70,000 feet. That's more than 13 miles! Or looking at it another way, it's 2 times the height of Mt. Everest, the tallest mountain in the world!
June only averages five days of thunderstorms, July averages seven days of thunderstorms, and August averages nine days of thunderstorms. The record number of thunderstorm days was 19 in 1967, 14 in 1985 and 16 in 1952.
Our summertime raindrops feel really cold - even on a 90-degree day. Raindrops in Florida are very warm. Why the difference?
Answer: About 70 percent of our summertime raindrops started out as snowflakes and melted on the way down. So that's why our raindrops are cold!