...June 2008 Climate Summary...

The month of June saw a continuation of the excessive rains that the Ozarks have dealt with since the beginning of this year. Seveal raounds of heavy rainfall impacted the Ozarks during the month breaking several daily records. The monthly rainfall record for Springfield was broken as over 13 inches of rain fell during the month. In addition, so far this year, Springfield and 12 other locations across the Ozarks have set new January to June rainfall records. So, the first six months of 2008 have been wet indeed. With June in the record books and only around 2 inches left for Springfield to reach its normal yearly rainfall, this could end up being a record year.

Station	Temperature (mean)			Precipitation (total)
	Mean Temp.	Rank	Above/Below	Precip.	Rank	Above/Below
Springfield	73.2 deg F	Tied 37th coolest	0.2 below normal	13.41 inches	Wettest on record	8.39 inches above normal
Joplin	75.8 deg F	19th warmest	1.0 above normal	9.27 inches	10th wettest	3.85 inches above normal
West Plains	73.8 deg F	Tied 17th warmest	1.9 above normal	4.69 inches	17th Wettest	0.36 inches above normal
Vichy	72.3 deg F	Tied 15th coolest	0.5 below normal	3.19 inches	25th Driest	0.46 inches below normal

June 2008 Precipitation Totals for the Midwest

June 2008 Precipitation Totalsl

June 2008 Pecipitation Departure from Normal

List of March 2008 Records
Date	Station	Record
June 4th 2008	Joplin	73 degrees (record high low)
June 14th, 2008	Springfield	3.88 inches of rain
June 14th, 2008	West Plains	1.13 inches of rain
June 19th, 2008	Springfield	2.11 inches of rain
June 28th, 2008	West Plains	1.74 inches of rain
June 30th, 2008	Vichy/Rolla	56 Degrees (Record Low)
Month of June	Springfield	13.41 inches of rainfall

mal Conditions for the Upcoming 3 MonthsSpringfield

Normal Conditions for the Upcoming 3 Months
Springfield
	High	Low	Precip.	Snowfall
Aug	89.5	65.6	3.37	0.0
Sept	81.2	57.4	4.83	0.0
Oct	70.6	46.1	3.47	T
Joplin
	High	Low	Precip.	Snowfall
Aug	89.5	67.5	3.82	0.0
Sept	81.0	59.2	5.22	0.0
Oct	70.9	48.1	3.94	0.0
West Plains
	High	Low	Precip.	Snowfall
Aug	88.7	44.2	4.35	0.0
Sept	80.6	53.8	4.62	0.0
Oct	70.8	43.2	3.40	0.0
Vichy
	High	Low	Precip.	Snowfall
Aug	86.7	65.3	3.67	0.0
Sept	78.5	57.4	3.48	0.0
Oct	67.9	46.7	3.26	0.0

Below is a report from the Midwest Regional Climate Center indicating the scope of the rainfall received in June so far this year across the midwest.

Precipitation Totals Set Records in the Midwest

Substantial recent flooding in the Midwest was caused by heavy precipitation that fell not only in June, but also throughout the first half of 2008. The NOAA Midwestern Regional Climate Center (MRCC) found that 286 National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Network stations reported precipitation totals for the first half of 2008 that ranked within their top five records of the January-June period since the late 1800s in some cases.

“More than 100 individual stations tied or exceeded their January through June precipitation records in the Midwest region this year, which is an extraordinary 11% of stations with observations available,” explained MRCC Regional Climatologist Mike Palecki. “Only a third as many Midwest stations achieved their current record in 1993, another year of great floods (although in 1993 the heaviest rainfall occurred in July).”

Some of the precipitation records set during June include:

Location	June Total (inches)	Old Record and Year
Martinsville, IN	20.11	9.47” in 1998
Baraboo, WI	17.17	10.65” in 1949
Mt. Vernon, MO	16.03	12.56” in 2007
Hutsonville, IL	15.30	9.09” in 1999
Decorah, IA	14.10	11.80” in 1993
Washington, OH	11.14	9.40” in 1928
Lake City, MI	10.66	7.10” in 1967

In 1993, record precipitation during the first half of the year was largely confined in the Midwest to states surrounding Iowa, said Palecki. The early 2008 precipitation pattern caused heavy flooding both in and around Iowa and in the Ohio River Valley. Fortunately, top five ranking rain totals in June were less common in the Ohio Valley (Fig. 2), and not found at all over the southern tributaries to the Ohio River.

“The tremendous flooding resulting in Southern Indiana from a small area of intense rainfall indicates what could have happened more broadly in the Ohio Valley if the precipitation pattern had spread further east during June,” Palecki added.

The locations with top five precipitation totals in June 2008 are clustered in an area similar to those affected in June 1993, although oriented differently. In June 1993 the affected locations were oriented from northwest to southeast across the region centered on eastern Iowa, while the June 2008 pattern stretched from southwest to northeast.

“This may indicate that June weather patterns triggering the two great floods were similar, but not exactly the same,” said Palecki, who added that a study of these differences is underway.

The current status of precipitation, temperature, and other climate conditions can be monitored on the MRCC’s “Midwest Climate Watch” web site, http://mrcc.sws.uiuc.edu/cliwatch/watch.htm

The NOAA Midwestern Regional Climate Center is a cooperative program of the Illinois Water Survey and the National Climatic Data Center (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S, Department of Commerce).

National Weather Service Cooperative Observer Network precipitation stations having a Top 5 precipitation total for June 2008. Locations with stars tied or exceeded previous records, while the locations with dots are ranked second to fifth wettest on record. All stations reported at least 75% of the time, had 30 years or more of records, and were compared to all station data since 1895.

This information is from a July 3rd report from Mike Palecki of the Midwest Regional Climate Center.

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...June 2008 Climate Summary...

...June 2008 Climate Summary...