July 2020 Summary

The third hottest July on record with average precipitation

The month started with a string of 10 days above 30°C, followed by days that were either at or above average (only one day was below average).  So it shouldn’t be a surprise that it was the third hottest July we have seen in the over 100 years of records in the region, 1.3 degrees away from the hottest back in 1955.

Other notes from the month: 

- the 15 days over 30°C was well above the July average of only 3.5 days
- the 10 days in a row over 30°C was the longest streak for any month since the 11 days from August 25th to September 4th 1953
- the 34.5°C reported on July 9th was the hottest July temperature since the 35.7°C on July 21, 2011 and the hottest day of any month since Sept 10, 2013 when it was 34.7°C

Although the total precipitation of 80.0 mm was just within the average range, almost all of it came during just 3 days of the month.  This means that there were also a few long dry streaks during the month, so it might have felt like it was drier than average.

The total precipitation so far this year of 583.1 mm is still above the average of 509.0 mm.

Summary for July 2020:
Maximum Temperature 34.5°C
Minimum Temperature 12.0°C
Average Daily High Temperature 29.6°C (Long term average 26.0°C)
Average Daily Low Temperature 16.6°C (Long term average 14.0°C)
Total Precipitation 80.0 mm (Long term average 98.6 mm)

(Long term averages based on 1981-2010 data for the Waterloo-Wellington Airport)