It's that time again...time for the month in review for August.  We almost had a record for the driest August here in the Midstate.  That was quickly shattered when the remnants of Fay brought some relief to the area.  How did we do in the temperature department for the month?  I'll discuss that and more in this blog about the climate for August 2008.

Officially at Harrisburg International Airport, we finished the month of August 1.1 degrees below normal.  That shouldn't be surprising considering many of the days last month felt rather autumn-like!  We did manage a high of 91 degrees back on August 6...that was the highest temperature all month.  The lowest recorded temperature for the month at HIA was 52 back on the morning of August 20.  Some backyards saw temperatures in the 40s on several of those calm, clear nights last month.  The highest temperature ever recorded for August was 104 degrees set back on August 6, 1918.  The lowest recorded temperature was 45 degrees back on August 31, 1976.  In total, we had three days last month where the temperature topped 90 degrees.  For four days last month, high temperatures stayed in the 70s!  All in all, nothing too spectacular in the temperature department for August.

The precipitation was the interesting part about August 2008.  We had 19 days that were completely dry last month at Harrisburg International Airport.  Our normal value for August is 3.24 inches of precipitation.  We finished last month with 1.09 inches in the rain gauge, which is 2.15 inches below normal.  The driest August on record was back in 1995 with only 0.53 inches of rainfall.  Up until we saw the remnants of Fay on August 29, we were on pace for the driest August.  We only had 0.36 inches officially at that time.  Fay brought in 0.73 inches of new rainfall to add to that total.  The most rain we have ever received in August came back in 1933 with 10.67 inches!  Fay helped save some lawns around the area this past month.

We have once again had a rather dry stretch since Fay departed.  That will all change Saturday when Tropical Storm Hanna moves up the coast.  I will have an all new Questions & Answers segment tomorrow on the blog.  Someone wants to know what Hanna will do and if we should be concerned about Ike.  I will answer that question and have another Tropical Update tomorrow...so check back then!  Have a great Thursday!