Areas of Heavy Rainfall and Critical Fire Weather on Wednesday

Heavy to excessive rainfall may bring flooding to parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia Wednesday. Recently burned areas will be particularly vulnerable to flash flooding. Gusty winds and low humidity will bring critical fire weather to parts of the Northwest U.S. and central Alaska on Wednesday where Red Flag Warnings are in effect. Read More >

August was a somewhat insignificant month temperature-wise. Some areas were a bit below average, while other places were a bit above average. There was an interesting pattern with rainfall where many areas saw near average or a bit above average rainfall, except for a stripe of below average rainfall along the South Shore and extending west a bit towards Aitkin County. It is not clear if there is any notable feature that caused this, such as a persistent lake breeze, but a quick analysis of some of the rainier days around the 16th to 18th suggests that it may just be by chance. However, the lack of rain in this area, which has been experiencing dry conditions for most of summer, has resulted in an expansion of moderate drought conditions across northern Douglas and Bayfield counties with some improvement elsewhere. It has also been fairly quiet in terms of severe weather aside from three active days. Another notable feature is a high amount of flash flood and flood warnings and advisories issued on the 16th through 18th due to persistent and slow moving thunderstorms.

Looking ahead, the CPC is forecasting a continuation of warm and dry conditions as we go into September. This pattern may extend a bit into October and November. The drought conditions over northwest Wisconsin are likely to persist into the fall.