July 2007 was another warm and dry month in Minnesota. Some of the driest spots in the state were: Pipestone with .30 inches of precipitation, Hutchinson with .50 inches and Litchfield with .55 inches. Redwood Falls had the lowest total found in the state so far with only .16 inches of precipitation. This total is the driest on record for July at Redwood Falls. Some of the only areas that finished with above normal rains for July 2007 were in northwest Minnesota.

The type of rainfall seen in July 2007 was mostly in the form of convective thunderstorms either in isolated clusters or along a cool front. It was one of these cool fronts that stopped July from being as warm as July 2006. There was a mid month break in the heat with temperatures struggling to reach 80 for a high at times. What was missing was a large storm system bringing any widespread general rainfall.

It's been a very warm summer so far. Putting May-July together for the Twin Cities the mean temperature was 71.0 degrees or 4 degrees above normal. This was warm enough to be the 4th warmest May through July on record for the Twin cities going back to 1891. Because of isolated thunderstorms that favored the rain bucket at the airport and missed many areas of the Twin Cities, the same period was the 12th driest on record. At St Cloud the same period May through June was the 9th warmest and the 5th driest on record back to 1891.

Listed below are reports about the July heat courtesy the National Weather Service.

JULY 2007 WAS DRY ACROSS THE REGION WITH RAINFALL UNDER A HALF INCH
AT MANY LOCATIONS. THE AREA SOUTH OF SIOUX FALLS WAS ESPECIALLY DRY
WITH TOTAL MONTHLY RAINFALL LESS THAN A TENTH OF AN INCH. A
CORRIDOR NEAR AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90...FROM CHAMBERLAIN INTO
NORTHWEST IOWA...HAD THEIR DRIEST JULY ON RECORD WITH ONLY A TRACE
REPORTED AT CENTERVILLE SOUTH DAKOTA AND SIOUX CENTER IOWA...AND
ZERO RAINFALL AT HAWARDEN IOWA. STATISTICS FOR SITES ACROSS THE AREA
ARE AS FOLLOWS...

DRIEST JULY ON RECORD...

CITY               JULY 2007 RAINFALL      PREVIOUS DRIEST JULY

HAWARDEN IA             ZERO               0.12 INCHES IN 1930
CENTERVILLE             TRACE              0.31 INCHES IN 1975
CANTON               0.01 INCHES           0.32 INCHES IN 1967
MARION               0.03 INCHES           0.21 INCHES IN 1975
MENNO                0.05 INCHES           0.10 INCHES IN 1930
MITCHELL             0.08 INCHES           0.24 INCHES IN 1947
ALEXANDRIA           0.11 INCHES           0.25 INCHES IN 1916
CHAMBERLAIN          0.24 INCHES  /TIES/   0.24 INCHES IN 1954
SIOUX CENTER IA         TRACE              0.32 INCHES IN 2006
ALTON IA             0.23 INCHES           0.25 INCHES IN 2006

SECOND DRIEST JULY...

CITY               JULY 2007 RAINFALL      DRIEST JULY ON RECORD

FORESTBURG           0.10 INCHES           0.06 INCHES IN 1930
BROOKINGS            0.14 INCHES           0.09 INCHES IN 1894
HURON                0.20 INCHES           0.15 INCHES IN 1932

THIRD DRIEST JULY...

CITY               JULY 2007 RAINFALL      DRIEST JULY ON RECORD

WAGNER               0.05 INCHES           TRACE IN 1930 AND 1967
FLANDREAU            0.24 INCHES           0.08 INCHES IN 1930
SIOUX FALLS          0.32 INCHES           0.25 INCHES IN 1947
TYNDALL              0.45 INCHES           0.24 INCHES IN 1930
PIPESTONE MN         0.30 INCHES           0.18 INCHES IN 1936
TRACY MN             0.58 INCHES           0.51 INCHES IN 1936

FOURTH DRIEST JULY...

CITY               JULY 2007 RAINFALL      DRIEST JULY ON RECORD

GREGORY              0.48 INCHES           0.44 INCHES IN 1967
HOWARD               0.50 INCHES           0.07 INCHES IN 1930
SIBLEY IA            0.64 INCHES           0.08 INCHES IN 1947

FIFTH DRIEST JULY...

CITY               JULY 2007 RAINFALL      DRIEST JULY ON RECORD

PICKSTOWN            0.54 INCHES           0.00 INCHES IN 2002
TYLER MN             0.56 INCHES           0.15 INCHES IN 1975

IN GREGORY IT WAS THE THIRD JULY IN A ROW WITH LESS THAN A HALF INCH
OF RAIN. RAINFALL IN 2006 WAS 0.45 INCHES AND IN JULY 2005 IT WAS
0.47 INCHES.

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/warm0707.htm
Last modified: August 1, 2007