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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend July 6, 2005 June’s daytime high temps were well below average By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Summer arrived just as Southern Oregon bade June farewell. The 90-degree days that Rogue Valley residents take for granted from early June through late September didn’t arrive until the last two days of the month, and several showery spells pushed the average high temperature for the month 5.2 degrees below normal. Rainfall for the month totaled .68 inches, just .01 inch short of the normal average for June, but there were nine days when at least a trace of rain fell and 18 days with at least partial cloud cover. The cloudy skies acted like a blanket at night, holding in daytime heat and raising the average low temperature for the month .9 degrees above normal. The month just ended was Medford’s wettest June since 1997 (when 1.42 inches of rain fell), but it fell far short of the June record for rain (set in 1931 with 3.49 inches). Advertisement The only weather record for the month came on June 8, when the temperature fell overnight to 38 degrees, a new record low for that date. June continued a pattern of cooler- and wetter-than-normal weather that began in March after a prolonged mid-winter dry spell raised the specter of drought across Oregon. Mountain snowpacks never climbed much above 50 percent of average, but rain in April, May and June kept streams flowing and filled Lost Creek and Applegate reservoirs. Precipitation for the "water year" that began Sept. 1 climbed to 18.25 inches, about 4 percent above the average (17.53 inches) at the end of June. Summer’s late start may mean warm, dry weather continues well into September or even October, said George Taylor, Oregon’s state climatologist. Taylor bases his observations on what he calls "analog" years. He studies climate data looking for years when similar conditions developed and then looks at the weather patterns that emerged over the next few months. He said summer also arrived late in 1993 and 1995, after a cool, wet spring, but hot, dry weather then persisted well into the fall. Taylor noted that hot weather almost always comes to Southern Oregon in summer, sooner or later, but temperatures were expected to drop back into the 80-degree range during the coming weekend. "I think it’s going to be the middle of the month before (summer) breaks through," he said. Hotter weather could mean more work for wildland firefighters. June’s mild weather postponed the start of the wildland fire season until June 27, one of the latest starts in the past 35 years, but fire danger will escalate rapidly as tall grasses dry out and temperatures climb, said Dan Thorpe, southwest district forester for the Oregon Department of Forestry. "August is still going to be August," he said, referring to the region’s most dangerous month for wildland fires. "When the grass dries out, it’s going to be wild and woolly." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail June�s daytime high temps were well below average ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers Southern Oregon Loans California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisement s