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| Cliff Harris |
Boise has hottest July, but it was third-warmest for Cd'A
While Spokane saw its second-hottest July on record this past month, and Coeur d'Alene its third-warmest July since at least 1895, our capital city of Boise observed an all-time average temperature in July of 83.1 degrees, smashing the previous mark set last July in 2006 of 81.5 degrees at the international airport. The downtown Boise average (mean) temperature was 82.0 degrees, the highest reading since 1874. The normal is 74.7 degrees, more than 7 degrees cooler.
Spokane's average temperature in July was 75.6 degrees, just under the hottest such reading ever set 101 years ago in 1906, the same year as the disastrous San Francisco earthquake April 18. Spokane's third mean warmest July ever occurred in 1998 at 75.3 degrees.
Coeur d'Alene's mean temperature in July of 75.5 degrees, an average high of a sweltering 91 degrees and a not so prime sleeping weather low of 60 degrees, was just under the 76.2 degrees in July 1985 and 75.8 degrees in 1960.
There were a near-record 21 afternoons locally at my weather station on Player Drive this past July with torrid "Sholeh-type" 90-degree-plus readings, second only to the 23 such days in July of 1985.
July 1998 had 20 afternoons of 90 degrees or above as did 1973 in a tie for third place in the Sholeh league.
July 2007 was only the fourth time since 1895 that Coeur d'Alene observed an average maximum temperature above 90 degrees for the 31-day span. The record was the 94.6 reading in 1985. July 1960 saw a toasty 92.7-degree mean temperature. July of this year again was in third place with an average high of 91.3 degrees. The only other July above 90 degrees was 1973 with 90.6 degrees.
By the way, the three coolest Julys on record in terms of lowest maximum readings since 1895 were 75.4 degrees set way back in 1897 followed by 1983 with a chilly 76.4 degrees and July 1916 with 76.5 degrees.
The normal average July maximum reading in the past 113 Julys since 1895 in Coeur d'Alene has been 85.1 degrees. The mean low has been 52.8 degrees, giving us an average July temperature of 68.95 degrees to be exact.
Our mean temperature this sweltering July was, as previously mentioned, 75.5 degrees, some 6.5 degrees above normal.
Not only was July of 2007 very hot, but it was likewise extremely dry. Only a scant .26 inches of precipitation was gauged the entire month, just 27 percent of the normal of .96 inches for July since 1895.
No wonder the nearby forests in early August are "tinder-dry" and there have been a near-record number of forest and brushfires already this summer in the region, including the current four major blazes in neighboring Montana.
Last July, in 2006, we received even less total moisture than during the recently expired July. A puny .06 inches was measured in both July and August last summer. From June 17, 2006 through September 18, 2006, more than three full months, we measured just .14 inches on Player Drive, far under the previous record-low moisture total for the same period of .44 inches in 1967.
The first week of August has likewise been dry and hot thus far. We hit a scorching 96 degrees on Thursday afternoon, the same day that I wrote this article. No rain as of this writing has fallen locally since the miniscule .01 inches early in the evening of July 26. Looking farther down the meteorological roadway, most of the rest of August and at least the first couple of weeks of September should likewise be both warmer and drier than usual for the last part of summer.
However, we should see more total moisture this time around than during August of 2006, when it was practically rainless in the Inland Empire.
This year's edition of the late August North Idaho Fair and Rodeo should be mostly dry and warm with just the slight threat of a few afternoon and evening widely-scattered thunderstorms.
If the La Nina sea-surface temperature event holds together in the Pacific Ocean waters for a few more months before falling apart, the Fall of 2007 could turn a bit wetter and cooler than usual for the season. Only time will tell. Stay tuned.
