Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

No Records Broken

Gee, has anyone noticed it's been a bit hot of late?

Actually, it's been extremely hot, but no records have been broken because of the heat.

According to local meteorologist John W. Teeter, the mercury has yet to climb above the 100 degree mark for 1999.

However, one of the problems faced this past month was the lack of rainfall.

Normally, Teeter said, the area received 3.85 inches during July. But, the region only got 0.58 inches of moisture, leaving a deficit of 3.27 inches for the month.

On the year, though, the area is still above normal. The average amount of rain falling by the seventh month of the year is 31.49 inches, while a total of 36.51 inches has hit the ground. This amounts to a surplus of 5.02 inches.

There was only one day of the month any measurable rain fell, and this occurred on July 11.

No watches or warnings were posted during July, though it did thunder on the afternoon of July 26.

Getting back to the temperature, Teeter said the hottest it got in July was 99 degrees on July 29 and 30.

The lowest the mercury fell to was 64 on July 12.

The average temperature was 82.2 degrees, which is almost exactly normal. The normal average daily temperature is 82.3 degrees.

The 0.58 inches of rain, he said, was the lowest in many years, but the record for low July rainfall is 0.29 inches from 1886.

On the other hand, the wettest July on record was in 1971, when 12.06 inches of the wet stuff fell.

According to Davis Benton, Cale's weatherman, the southern part of the county received 2.21 inches of rain for the month, but most of this came with a late summer squall which destroyed two barns and blew several trees down.

The Cale area has received 32.79 inches of rain for the year.

Benton said the temperature climbed above the 100 mark on six different days in July, with the high for the month hitting 103 degrees.

This, Benton said, is well above normal.

"We haven't recorded a 100 degree day yet," Teeter said of the Prescott area, "but we again remind you the official temperatures are air temperatures, taken over grass five feet above ground a distance from any building or concrete."

Outside the depot museum, he said, on the west side of the street, a thermometer at 4 p.m. showed the temperature to be 112 degrees, but this was an inaccurate measure.

He reminds people to stay inside during the hottest part of the day as heat can be serious when reflected from streets and buildings.

Looking at August, the normal rainfall amount is 3.23 inches, while the average daily temperature is 81.9 degrees.

In discussing hot summers, Teeter said there were 57 days when the mercury reached or exceeded 100 degrees in 1930. The record temperature for the area remains 112, from July 29, 1930.

In 1954, the temperature stayed at or above 100 degrees for 65 days. The hottest it got during this summer was 108, on Aug. 8 and 30.

However, the summer most still remember is the furnace of 1980, when there were 62 days of 100-plus heat.

The mercury climbed to 109 on Aug. 20, for the highest temperature of the summer of '80.

"We remember some very hot days last year," Teeter said, "but 1998 recorded only 23 days of 100 degree or higher weather."

The hottest it got in 1998, he said, was 105 on July 29, 31 and on Aug. 20.

"We're past due fora hot summer," he said, "and this could be it.