...Top Ten Coolest August for Portions of the Ozarks...

Record Cool August Occurres for portions of the Ozarks

Top 10 Coolest Summer Season at Vichy/Rolla

A rather cool weather pattern persisted for most of the 2009 summer season. With the exception of a 2 week period in June, most of the temperature readings this summer were  cooler than you would expect. There have been several record lows set this summer along with some record cool daily high temperatures.

August was no exception as average monthly temperatures ran between 2 and 4 degrees below normal for locations across the Ozarks. Many locations experienced daily highs in the low 70's this month. While this made for a comfortable summer, it's not normal. To the contrary, it's rather chilly for this time of year. Meteorological summer runs from June through August, and Vichy/Rolla, Joplin and West Plains finished with top ten coolest August's and Vichy/Rolla finished the season with a top ten coolest summer.

Below are the Average Monthly Temperatures for August 2009 and where they stand compared to the top ten coolest Augusts on record. 

Rank SGF JLN UNO VIH
1 1915 68.7 1992 71.7 1967 71.8 2004 70.5
2 1950-1927 70.5 1950 71.9 1950 72 1950 71.1
3 1992 71 1967 73 2004 72.5 1992 71.5
4 1967 72.3 1966 73.9 1994 73 1967 72.2
5 1920 72.4 1974 74 1976 73.1 2009 73.2
6 2004 72.5 2004-1908 74.6 1986 73.8 1961 74.1
7 1917 72.8 1976-1964 75.2 1961-2009 73.9 1974 74.2
8 1889-1931 73 2009 75.6 1966 74.1 1966-1949-2008 74.3
9 1891 73.1 1986
 75.7
 1971 74.2 1965-1903 74.4
10 1890 73.6 1904 76.2
 1964,2008 74.4 1981 74.5
11 1893-1986 73.7      
1976-1982 74.6
12 1997-2009 73.8      
   

The overall trend during the summer season was on the cool side. This can be seen in the summer seasonal graph for Springfield below.

This has been the trend for nearly all of the Ozarks. With the apparent continuation of this trend, temperatures are forecast to be cooler than normal into September. 

The cool weather from the summer placed many location in the top 20 coolest summer seasons i.e.

Springfield - Tied for 17th Coolest

Joplin - Tied for 13th Coolest

West Plains - Tied for 14th Coolest

And one location in the top ten coolest summer seasons i.e.

Vichy/Rolla - The 5th coolest on record.

 



Return to News Archive
USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.