Dry Conditions for May, June, July

North Platte, NE and Valentine, NE
Driest May 1 through July 31 on Record

     The past 3 months have very dry across a large part of the region. For most of Western and North Central Nebraska it has been the driest on record. It has also been one of the warmest, especially when look

     May, June, and July are normally the three wettest months of the year with on average 9.77 inches recorded at North Platte and 9.90 inches at Valentine, accounting for nearly 1/2 of the yearly precipitation total (North Platte - 20.23 inches and Valentine - 20.02 inches). This year at North Platte not even 1 inch was recorded during any of the three months. Valentine did record over one inch in June (1.72 inches) however July totaled only 0.08 inches.

      Below is a table showing the top 15 driest May 1 through July 31 periods on record along with the Average - Max Temperatures, the Average - Min Temperatures, and the Average - High and Low Average (Ave) Temperature. It also shows the information for each month (May, June, and July) individually. Also below is a map showing some of the departures from normal.

North Platte, NE

May, June, and July Totals
Year	Rainfall	Average Max Temp	Average Min Temp	Average Ave Temp
2012	2.30 (1)	89.3 (2)	55.6 (38)	72.5 (3)
1890	3.35 (2)	81.6 (43)	55.1 (51)	68.3 (41)
1897	3.68 (3)	80.0 (70)	54.3 (77)	67.2 (70)
1921	4.08 (4)	82.2 (31)	57.5 (12)	69.9 (17)
1931	4.09 (5)	83.7 (13)	57.0 (18)	70.3 (11)
1940	4.16 (6)	84.3 (8)	57.1 (16)	70.7 (7)
2002	4.21 (7)	84.8 (6)	54.9 (56)	69.9 (18)
1925	4.27 (8)	82.3 (27)	56.0 (31)	69.1 (31)
1934	4.42 (9)	90.0 (1)	61.4 (1)	75.7 (1)
1876	4.62 (10)	80.1 (64)	54.9 (57)	67.5 (60)
1933	4.82 (11)	84.0 (10)	57.8 (9)	70.9 (5)
1953	4.83 (12)	82.1 (36)	54.1 (80)	68.1 (52)
1952	5.06 (13)	83.8 (12)	54.7 (59)	69.2 (29)
1980	5.12 (14)	84.5 (7)	55.9 (35)	70.2 (13)
1924	5.16 (15)	77.1 (122)	51.6 (128)	64.4 (126)

May Totals

June Totals

July Totals

Year*

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

2012

0.74 (7)

78.1 (7)

61.9 (24)

0.87 (8)

92.0 (1)

75.3 (4)

0.69 (14)

98.0 (1)

80.4 (5)

1890

0.90 (12)

71.3 (71)

58.1 (75)

2.06 (36)

82.3 (49)

69.6 (45)

0.39 (3)

91.1 (23)

77.4 (28)

1897

0.11 (1)

73.8 (42)

60.4 (43)

1.72 (27)

77.9 (113)

66.6 (101)

1.85 (47)

88.4 (61)

74.5 (70)

1921

1.89 (34)

73.2 (50)

61.0 (34)

1.39 (16)

84.0 (31)

71.9 (22)

0.80 (16)

89.5 (45)

76.9 (35)

1931

0.47 (3)

71.7 (66)

58.1 (73)

2.65 (57)

88.6 (8)

75.5 (2)

0.97 (23)

91.0 (25)

77.6 (21)

1940

0.66 (6)

74.9 (28)

60.5 (40)

2.84 (65)

86.2 (17)

72.1 (21)

0.66 (12)

92.0 (17)

79.6 (8)

2002

1.56 (25)

70.8 (78)

56.0 (105)

2.20 (39)

89.5 (5)

74.8 (6)

0.45 (6)

94.3 (6)

79.0 (11)

1925

1.92 (35)

72.1 (59)

59.5 (57)

1.46 (19)

85.1 (23)

71.9 (23)

0.89 (17)

89.8 (37)

76.2 (41)

1934

0.65 (5)

83.3 (1)

68.9 (1)

2.98 (67)

89.0 (7)

75.3 (3)

0.79 (15)

97.7 (2)

82.9 (1)

1876

2.97 (76)

70.1 (84)

59.4 (59)

0.49 (2)

80.7 (76)

66.8 (98)

1.16 (29)

89.6 (40)

76.3 (39)

1933

2.61 (67)

69.4 (90)

57.7 (84)

1.27 (14)

91.0 (2)

77.0 (1)

0.94 (20)

91.9 (18)

78.3 (14)

1953

0.98 (14)

70.8 (79)

56.5 (102)

2.05 (35)

87.0 (12)

72.8 (14)

1.80 (43)

88.6 (56)

75.2 (57)

1952

3.20 (84)

70.7 (80)

58.1 (74)

0.33 (1)

89.9 (4)

75.0 (5)

1.53 (37)

91.0 (26)

74.8 (63)

1980

2.59 (65)

72.9 (53)

60.2 (45)

1.89 (30)

86.7 (13)

72.5 (16)

0.64 (11)

94.0 (8)

78.0 (17)

1924

2.26 (47)

66.5 (123)

53.1 (131)

1.90 (31)

79.2 (94)

67.4 (87)

1.00 (24)

85.7 (100)

72.6 (109)

   * Year order is based on lowest rainfall totals (driest) from May 1 through July 31.
( ) Year ranking.
       Rainfall is based on Driest on record.
       Average Max T (Average High) is based on Warmest on record.
       Average Ave T (Average of the daily High/Low Average) is based on Warmest on record
** Length of Records 138 years (1875-2012)

Valentine, NE

May, June, and July Totals
Year	Rainfall	Average Max Temp	Average Min Temp	Average Ave Temp
2012	2.49 (1)	87.7 (2)	56.4 (4)	72.1 (3)
1911	3.04 (2)	81.2 (29)	54.4 (33)	67.8 (31)
1894	3.50 (3)	82.2 (21)	55.4 (18)	68.8 (15)
2006	3.56 (4)	85.2 (5)	54.9 (26)	70.0 (5)
1936	3.82 (5)	85.8 (3)	59.5 (1)	72.6 (2)
1934	3.84 (6)	87.9 (1)	58.2 (2)	73.1 (1)
2002	3.86 (7)	83.4 (8)	53.6 (54)	68.5 (19)
1895	3.90 (8)	76.6 (102)	50.9 (112)	63.8 (106)
1918	4.01 (9)	80.0 (48)	54.7 (30)	67.4 (38)
1976	4.12 (10)	80.9 (32)	52.3 (80)	66.6 (50)
1937	4.20 (11)	80.4 (39)	56.1 (10)	68.3 (24)
1956	4.39 (12)	82.9 (14)	54.2 (38)	68.5 (17)
1940	4.60 (13)	82.0 (22)	54.9 (25)	68.5 (20)
1985	4.96 (14)	83.0 (12)	51.6 (98)	67.3 (39)
1975	5.00 (15)	81.3 (28)	53.5 (55)	67.4 (37)

May Totals

June Totals

July Totals

Year*

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

Rainfall

Average
Max T

Average
Ave T

2012

0.72 (10)

74.0 (24)

59.3 (30)

1.69 (25)

89.9 (3)

74.5 (5)

0.08 (2)

99.4 (1)

82.5 (2)

1911

1.37 (26)

70.9 (49)

58.7 (36)

0.99 (5)

87.7 (6)

73.3 (6)

0.68 (10)

85.2 (95)

71.7 (101)

1894

0.17 (1)

74.1 (23)

60.8 (19)

2.36 (45)

83.7 (26)

70.4 (22)

0.97 (15)

88.7 (52)

75.1 (52)

2006

0.26 (3)

74.9 (14)

59.5 (29)

3.02 (65)

85.5 (9)

71.0 (17)

0.28 (4)

95.1 (4)

79.7 (5)

1936

1.87 (37)

74.9 (16)

62.7 (7)

1.91 (30)

84.4 (18)

71.2 (15)

0.04 (1)

98.2 (2)

84.0 (1)

1934

1.03 (16)

83.3 (1)

67.4 (1)

2.37 (46)

84.6 (17)

71.2 (14)

0.44 (6)

95.7 (3)

80.5 (3)

2002

2.72 (59)

68.0 (77)

53.6 (104)

0.49 (3)

87.7 (7)

72.4 (8)

0.65 (9)

94.7 (5)

79.6 (6)

1895

0.83 (13)

69.2 (66)

57.0 (62)

2.53 (51)

75.7 (105)

63.4 (112)

0.54 (7)

85.0 (98)

70.8 (108)

1918

1.39 (28)

70.9 (51)

58.6 (37)

0.32 (1)

84.1 (20)

70.8 (19)

2.30 (57)

85.2 (96)

72.8 (87)

1976

1.56 (32)

70.2 (53)

56.5 (71)

0.44 (2)

84.1 (22)

68.0 (46)

2.12 (50)

88.5 (54)

75.2 (45)

1937

1.72 (36)

72.1 (36)

60.5 (24)

1.40 (17)

77.4 (87)

66.3 (74)

1.08 (17)

91.7 (22)

77.9 (16)

1956

1.18 (20)

71.0 (48)

57.8 (49)

1.72 (26)

89.8 (4)

74.6 (4)

1.49 (29)

88.0 (57)

73.4 (76)

1940

0.21 (2)

71.6 (42)

57.5 (52)

1.88 (28)

82.4 (37)

68.8 (38)

2.51 (68)

91.9 (17)

79.1 (10)

1985

0.70 (9)

78.6 (2)

62.5 (8)

2.23 (40)

80.0 (62)

64.1 (106)

2.03 (45)

90.3 (32)

75.2 (47)

1975

0.76 (11)

71.7 (40)

57.8 (47)

2.40 (48)

79.9 (64)

66.7 (67)

1.84 (39)

92.2 (16)

77.5 (21)

Page composition
by Matt Masek
Image composition
Cory Martin
August 1, 2012

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office