Drought-busting July!

Despite a hot and dry start to the month, July ended up being the turnaround Delmarva needed to bust the drought that had enveloped most of the peninsula.

Coming off of a very dry second half of Spring and an early summer heat wave, much of the mid-Atlantic region was in various stages of a worsening drought. The mid and late part of July brought smaller scale patterns that contributed to broad areas of storms, providing heavy rain for Delmarva despite little to no impact for areas further west.

The Salisbury area ended up with nearly 5.5″ of rain, most of which fell in a 2-day period from the 12-13th. This was .75″ above the average for the month of July.

As is the case with storm coverage in the summer, the rainfall amounts are rarely uniform from town to town. Much of lower Delaware received several more inches of rain than areas just south on the lower shore. At the airport in Georgetown, 8.90″ of rain was recorded – more than doubling the average for the month of July.

For the month of August, the long term forecast suggests a continuation of a wet pattern with slightly above average precipitation. The month tends to offer a higher chance for rainfall from tropical systems as well.