JULY 2001 Temperature, ºF Degree Days Precipitation, In. Est% Date Max Min Mean Heating Cooling Liquid Solid Sun Special Observations 1 87 65 76.0 11 .49 20% T 2 70 47 58.5 7 100% 3 81 46 63.5 2 60% F 4 85 62 73.5 9 .67 20% F,T 5 76 60 68.0 3 .53 10% T 6 72 48 60.0 5 100% F 7 84 49 66.5 2 T 70% 8 85 62 73.5 9 .62 50% F,T 9 83 57 70.0 5 80% F 10 89 59 74.0 9 .10 50% F,T 11 80 59 69.5 5 .23 90% F,T 12 80 55 67.5 3 30% 13 75 49 62.0 3 100% 14 79 50 64.5 1 80% 15 82 51 66.5 2 80% 16 86 57 71.5 7 70% 17 84 61 72.5 8 .02 40% F 18 83 58 70.5 6 .07 30% F 19 78 60 69.0 4 30% F 20 80 54 67.0 2 90% 21 81 53 67.0 2 100% F 22 86 54 70.0 5 80% 23 90 60 75.0 10 90% 24 93 61 77.0 12 70% 25 94 67 80.5 16 T 40% T 26 78 68 73.0 8 1.02 0% F 27 79 55 67.0 2 90% 28 73 53 63.0 2 0% 29 63 58 60.5 5 .58 0% F 30 72 58 65.0 .08 10% F 31 76 60 68.0 3 .01 10% F Total 80.8 56.6 68.7 23 138 4.42 0.0 54.5% Max 94 46 1.02 - Date 25 3 26 - For "special observations" F=fog and T=thunder. DAILY OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS STRONG COLD FRONT 1: Warm and humid today high 87F. Thunderstorms moved through 4-5pm with a brief torrential downpour and some 20+ mph wind gusts and rapidly falling temps as a strong cold front moved through. Moderate rain continued through 7pm for a total of .49". 2: Windy and clearing overnight and very cool low 47F. Sunny but remained much cooler than average today with a high of only 70F. 3: Early fog then sunny, increasing humidity and clouds during the afternoon and evening. MORE SHOWERS/STORMS 4: Rain and some thunder early this morning 4-6am with .30" rain. Variable clouds today-- mostly cloudy overall. More showers late this afternoon and early evening, one with a heavy downpour around 6pm which rained out the fireworks in Cumberland. Total rain here was .67". 5: Breezy and variably cloudy early, then heavy clouds and cool. Some light showers this morning. Thunderstorm this evening 4:30-5:30 with some heavy downpours, total .53" rain. 6: Heavy fog and cool early. Became sunny and very pleasant with high only 72F. 7: Another cool night followed by another sunny day but warmer. Became cloudy by evening with a very brief shower about 8pm (trace of rain). 8: Thunderstorms overnight 4-6am with some heavy rains .62" fell by 6:30am. Became partly sunny today and still warm and humid but no more rain or storms. Patchy fog late. 9: Patchy fog early, then mostly sunny and pleasantly warm. 10: Light fog early, then a hazy, hot and humid day with a high of 89F. A severe thunderstorm just barely brushed by to the S and W between 4-5pm. Some moderate breezes here and LOTS of thunder but only .02" rain as areas just to our S and W got pounded with heavy rain, strong wind and hail. More rain and thunder through 7pm for a total of .10". 11: Thunderstorm 12:30-1am with a brief heavy downpour, .23" fell in 10 minutes. Fog developed by dawn, became mostly sunny today with pleasant temperatures and light variable winds. DRY AND NICE 12: Mostly sunny and warm early, then became cooler and mostly cloudy. 13: Cool low 49F, then sunny and still cool day with high only 75F and low humidity. 14: Mild, mostly sunny day, light breezes, very pleasant again. 15: Very similar to yesterday except slightly warmer. 16: Mostly sunny early, mostly cloudy late AM-mid PM, then fair through the evening. Moderate humidity and seasonal temps. 17: Mostly sunny AM, became cloudy by mid-afternoon, brief shower about 7pm .02" rain. Light fog toward dusk, very little wind. 18: Light rain overnight .07" fell by 7am, patchy fog also. Heavy rains went just 15-20 mi to the S with 1-2" falling in parts of the WV panhandle. Skies partially cleared this afternoon but increasing clouds by evening. 19: Early fog, then just cloudy, partial clearing by afternoon, some breezes in mid-PM. 20: Mostly sunny, light breezes, low humidity, very pleasant. 21: Early fog, then mostly sunny with just some high clouds this afternoon. 22: Clear early, increasing haze and humidity through the day, still mostly sunny. HOT AND HUMID 23: Mostly sunny, hazy, hot and humid high of 90F. 24: Partly to mostly sunny, again hazy, hot and humid, high of 93F. 25: Again hazy, hot and humid high of 94F--the hottest of 2001 so far. Slow-moving thunderstorms to our W and SW this afternoon and early evening were moving this way but broke up when they finally hit the Allegany Co. line. Only a trace of rain fell. MORE COOL/RAINY WEATHER 26: Became cloudy and very mild overnight with some fog this morning and showers beginning around 7am. Temperatures actually fell slightly through the day. Heavy downpour between 1-1:30 pm produced .80" rain in less than a half hour. Remained cloudy the rest of the day and cool. Total rain today was 1.02". 27: Cooler overnight, then sunny, another brillant day with low humidity and light winds. 28: Cloudy and cool, breezy at times. 29: Rain developed around 4am and continued through the day, was mostly light but very steady. Patchy fog and very cool high of only 63F. Rain tapered to drizzle by evening, .58" fell by midnight. This storm took an almost identical track as the last two with very heavy rains to our S and SW over the panhandle of WV. Keyser just 20 miles to the SSW had nearly 3 inches of rain. 30: Drizzle and fog overnight, .08" fell by 9am with precipitation finally ending. Remained mostly cloudy and cool, but milder than yesterday. 31: Very similar to yesterday, still below average temps, and lots of low clouds/patchy fog. Heavy shower went just to the W about 4pm just brushing by with .01" rain. Summary: July 2001 broke last year's record to become the coolest July on record. This was owing mostly to the minimum temperature anomaly, with a mean min of 56.6, compared to an average for July of 61.1 F. There were 5 lows in the 40s. We did have a brief hot streak with 94 on the 25th. Showers and thunderstorms, some strong to severe, were frequent, and preciptiation was above normal and well distributed throughout the month. Additional notes/records 2nd: Record low max of 70 F 3rd: Record low 46 F 29th: Record low max of 63 F ties July 3, 1978 for the coolest max temperature ever in July. July 2001 was the COOLEST JULY ON RECORD with a mean temperature of 68.7 F, breaking the record of 69.0 F set just last year in 2000. These two records were set immediately following the HOTTEST July in 1999.