June and July were certainly hot and dry across much of the Panhandle. The above graphic shows the June rainfall totals with isolated areas having less than two inches while along the coast, isolated areas had more than 10 inches fall in the month. Most of the region, however received three to six inches.
July rainfall had even more variation than June, with large portions of several counties receiving less than three inches, while isolated locations along the coast received more than 15 inches. Around the bend in North Central Florida, Dixie and Levy Counties where drenched with more than 20 inches of rain in July.
FAWN Station Summary
The FAWN stations across the Panhandle also showed the rainfall variation that fell. All six stations were below historic averages through the first seven months of 2015. The driest location, Carrabelle is more than six inches below average with only 24.3 inches collected for the year. The DeFuniak Springs Station remains as the wettest location for the year with 38.1 inches collected, and is also the closest to the historic average for the location. The average rainfall total for all six stations was 33″, which is 2.6″ below historic averages.
All of the High Pressure that hung over the region in June and July brought scorching hot temperatures, but no triple digit readings at the 6ft. air level. July was slightly hotter than June, but unfortunately the Soil Temperature sensor went bad in mid-July, so we don’t have records of how much the soil warmed up in July. Based on air temperature readings it is safe to say that crops and fields were suffering in the heat of both June and July. For specific daily weather records, download: 2015 Jan-July Weather Summary
The latest Drought Monitor shows that there are large portions of the Panhandle experiencing moderate drought, or abnormally dry conditions.
For more information on Florida weather records for these months, download:
June Florida Weather Summary
July Florida Weather Summary
August through October Forecast
The forecast for the next three months is for continued warmer than average temperatures through the end of October, but equal chances for below or above average rainfall.
El Niño Watch
Nearly all models predict El Niño to continue into the Northern Hemisphere through winter 2015-16, with many multi-model averages predicting a strong event at its peak strength. At this time, the forecaster consensus is there is a greater than 90% chance that El Niño will continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, and around an 80% chance it will last into early spring 2016.
Across the contiguous United States, temperature and precipitation impacts associated with El Niño are expected to remain minimal during the Northern Hemisphere summer and increase into the late fall and winter. El Niño will likely contribute to a below normal Atlantic hurricane season, and to above-normal hurricane seasons in both the central and eastern Pacific hurricane basins. Climate Prediction Center
If their forecast holds true, it may be a good year to plant winter pastures and small grains, with higher than normal rainfall expected. This forecast is more troublesome for vegetable planting in early spring, if conditions are similar to this past year.
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