During some down time I decided to take a look back at the last five years of climate data. Generally, this isn’t a big enough sample size to do any real number crunching or analysis, but I thought it would be fun just to see how the last five years stack up against the historical average. And how each year compares to another.
Looking at August
I started with August, since that is where we are right now. The data is quite interesting! Here are a few quick facts about August between 2010 and 2014…
- When comparing the first-, second-, and third-ten-day periods, the coldest 10-day period was August 11-20 of 2013. Hattiesburg averaged 86.7 degrees
- Making the same comparison as above, if the forecast holds, the warmest 10-day period is going to be August 1-10 of 2015. Hattiesburg average high will be 97.9 degrees.
- Even without Hurricane Isaac, 2012 would’ve been the wettest August between 2010 and 2014 with 5.12″ of rain. Instead, because of the hurricane, August of 2012 ended with 14.68″ of rain. It was the wettest August on record.
There are plenty of other cool tidbits, too. Here is one that was a little surprising to me: Hattiesburg tallied 100 degrees or warmer five times between 2010 and 2014. And three of those 100-degree or warmer days were in 2010.
Augusts by Year
2010
August of 2010 started very warm and ended quite cool. The first few days of August 2010 recorded highs of 100, 103 and 100 degrees. Thankfully overnight lows were in the mid 70s, so there was some relief, but it was quite the hot start to the month.
From the 10th to the 22nd there as rain most days. It was a typical summer pattern with hit and miss storms. The 13th, 20th and 21st were the only days without rain during that stretch.
Then the month ended with the last five days below average and below 92 degrees. Two of the last five days were even in the low 80s.
2011
August of 2011 was a generally dry and uneventful month. The only peice of climate data to note is that the warmest day was also the wettest day. On July 23, Hattiesburg hit 100 degrees (the only time during that month) and also picked up 1.81″ of rain.
The hot and rainy day was in the middle of a three-day stretch of hot temperatures and rainy days. The 22nd, 23rd and 24th show temperatures of 99, 100 and 99, respectively. Also, the record books show .72″ 1.81″ and .38″ of rain, respectively. It was both the hottest and wettest three-day period of the month.
And, in fact, it is the most rain received over a three-day period when the temperatures were at or above 99 between 2010 and 2014.
Another quirky climate fact was influenced by those unusually hot and wet days. The lows for the final 11 days were six degrees cooler than the first ten days of the month. Seems within reason, right? Totally. But, during the same two time periods, the afternoon highs were, on average, almost two degrees warmer!
2012
August of 2012 was a generally cool and wet month. It was also hen Hurricane Isaac moved through the area. So, it was wet. Then, it was even wetter.
At first glance you might think that because a hurricane came ashore that it is responsible for the cooler data. But actually, the coolest days of the month were the 19th, 20th and 21st. The days ran, on average, more than eight degrees below average. On August 19th the afternoon high was only 82 degrees! Nearly 12 degrees cooler than average!
Hurricane Isaac, well that’s another story for another post.
2013
August of 2013 was an odd year because the coolest part of the month was smack-dab in the middle. The 11th through the 20th show an average high temperature of 86.7 degrees. There were seven days in there below 90. And one day was below 80 degrees!
2014
August of 2014 was actually pretty warm. I recall hearing from a lot of people that it was a “cool” month, but during the last five years it was the second warmest August. The only time Hattiesburg hit 100 was August 24th, but generally temperatures ran between 92 and 96 degrees.
The month was also exceptionally dry. August of 2014 ended with only 1.6″ of rain for the entire month. That is a little more than three inches below average. That said, August of 2014 did tally the most days with Trace rainfall amounts. That means rain fell, but it was barely measurable. It could be argued that on those days heavier rain simply missed the official rain gauge, and it wasn’t as dry as the records show. But I would argue that I recall it being a pretty dry month across the entire area with parts of the area under either D1 or D2 drought conditions on the Drought Monitor Index.
So there you have it…
I’m sure there are other little tidbits that could be found, but this is all I found when I took a look at the data!
