The Bizarro Weather

The state experienced below normal temperatures during the month of June and we just concluded a very mild July! The weather this year has been downright bizarre and reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Elaine replaces her normal group of Jerry, George, and Kramer for her Bizarro friends Kevin, Gene, and Feldman who possess opposite, more attractive characteristics. A generous, agreeable mailman named Vargas even surfaces as a replacement to Jerry’s arch nemesis Newman. The weather during July seemed to follow this trend. We had September temperatures in July.

I was curious just how bizarre the weather was so I looked up the historical weather data in Ames for the month of July going back to the year 2000. The average high temperature for the month was 78.7 degrees. This ranks as the coolest average high temperature in the last decade. Similarly, the average low temperature was 59.3 degrees which also ranks as the lowest in the last decade. (In case you were wondering, the warmest July in the last decade was in 2002. That year the average high temperature was 86.3 degrees and the average low temperature was 65.6 degrees).

Of course, the benefit of the cool temperatures has been low disease pressure compared to what we normally experience this time of year. Just don't forget to grab a light jacket on your way out the door this morning.

Marcus Jones

Graduate Research Assistant