Thursday, September 26, 2013

The Cool, Wet Summer of 2013



This past summer (June 1-August 31) was a great relief from the past three scorching summers.  Remember that the summer of 2010 and 2011 were back to back the warmest summers on record.  Last summer wasn’t quite as hot, but we did see the all-time record high temperature for South Carolina broken when it reached 113 F in Columbia.

It was during this time that much of the region was also battling drought.  There was some rainfall during the normal wet season of summer, but there were few wet months beginning in 2010.  In fact there were only 8 wet months out of 36 ending in 2012.  It looked like it would never change.

However, the weather pattern began to change in February of this year.  Rains began to increase, but it also got colder.  There were shifting patterns throughout the spring, but it too was cool and wet.  Then summer began with a very sluggish pattern that dominated June and July.  It was not as dominate in August, but it was still enough to keep the month on the cool side.

This weather pattern persisted for much of June and July.  Click on image for a larger view.  Image Credit: WLTX-TV.