By RICK KRON Leader staff writer
For summertime weather, it has been cool and wet.
June turned out to be the coolest in more than a dozen years and the one of the wettest on record.
July is starting off the same.
This was the first time in more than 40 years that June had only one day (June 16) hit 90-degrees or better, plus it was the first 90-degree of the year, making it the latest 90-degree day in 20 years.
Rainfall was plentiful and made the month one of the wettest in central Arkansas.
The area saw more than six inches of rain in June, 2.81 inches above the 30-year average. Through the first six days of July, the area has since had almost an inch above what it normally gets for the beginning of the month, and the temperatures have been averaging three degrees below the norm.
In June, the high temperature was below average 19 days and above average eight days.
It was the wettest June in three years, in part, thanks to Tropical Storm Cindy. The storm’s remnant hit the area hardest on June 22-23, dropping more than an inch of rain. The 1.65 inches that fell June 3 broke the record for the day by nearly three-fourths of an inch.
Through the first six months of the year, most everywhere in Arkansas is soaked above the norm. Central Arkansas is 3.51 inches above average; Fayetteville at 9.8 inches, and Ft. Smith has seen more than 7 inches of extra rain so far. Only Texarkana and West Memphis are slightly below.
The storms rolling through have produced 33 tornadoes in the state and there have been 11 weather-related deaths, mostly due to flooding.
