Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

August High Temperatures Reaches 109 Degrees

August ended with the temperature officially reaching 109 degrees, and no traceable rain falling.

According to John Teeter, local weatherman, the normal rainfall amount in August is 3.23 inches, and none fell.

This puts the area in a deficit situation with rainfall a the normal amount the city should have gotten is 33.61 inches, but only 33.26 inches has fallen. This puts the city down 0.35 inches for the year.

Part of the reason the situation isn't worse where rainfall is concerned, is June was extremely wet for a change.

In fact, Teeter said, there was a surplus of rain recorded for the entire year until now.

Davis Benton, Cale's meteorologist, said the southern part of Nevada County received 1.5 inches of rain in August.

This, he said, came from thunderstorms late in the evening on Aug. 21-22.

Otherwise, it was miserably hot with temperatures hitting 100 25 days, Benton said, an being in the 90s the other six.

Teeter said Prescott had 18 days of 100-plus heat, and the area is dangerously dry from lack of rain.

"Many remember the dust bowl' days of the 1930's," he said. "We aren't nearly to that point yet, but we'll wait and see.

"We did break the dry' record with no rainfall." The old record, he said, was 0.04 inches recorded in 1884.

Needless to say with no rain there were no weather watches or warnings posted during August. Normally there are four.

"We remind everyone the official' temperatures are air temperatures read five feet above grass and 50-feet from buildings or paved streets. Actual temperatures on the street are 15 to 20 degrees higher."

There were a few nights of good "sleeping weather" when the mercury dropped below 70 degrees. On Aug. 13, the lowest temperature of the month was recorded at 66 degrees.

As of Sept. 1, he said, there has been no rain for 38 consecutive days.

"Be careful working outdoors and be sure your pets and domestic animals have plenty of water," he said.

The average daily temperature for September is 75.9 degrees, with a rainfall amount of 3.47 inches.

In August, the average daily temperature was 85.6 degrees.