August 2015 Mid-South Climate Summary

Cool and wet would be appropriate words to describe August around the Mid-South. While temperatures were in the mid to upper 90s to begin the month, a welcomed recess from the heat arrived by late in the month to provide a preview of fall-like weather. There were no shortages of precipitation, with all sites receiving at least one inch of rain above average this month, which is always welcome during the warm summer months, particularly August which is climatologically the driest of the entire year.

No site hit 100 degrees during August, with all official sites except Jonesboro topping out at 98 degrees. Other than Memphis which hit 100 once in 2014, Jonesboro has not hit 100 since 2013, while both Tupelo and Jackson have not been so warm since 2012. Jackson recorded the coolest temperature of all sites with a 51 degree low, but Jonesboro was the site with the largest departure from normal at 4.2 degrees cooler. In fact, August 2015 was the sixth coolest month of August on record for Jonesboro. Additionally, the site also has the greatest departure from normal for 2015 to date, at 2.1 degrees cooler than normal. The other three sites are only slightly below normal for the year at less than a degree departure.

Tupelo was by far the wettest site of the four, receiving exactly 6.50 inches of rain, which was over 3 inches above normal. This total set a new record for Tupelo as the sixth wettest month of August on record. Tupelo has received 52.57 inches of rain for 2015 to date, which is over 16 inches above normal. To put that into perspective, the normal precipitation total for the entire year is 55.01 inches. Tupelo should have no issue picking up those 2.44 inches of rain over the next month and begin working on its above normal departure for the year. Memphis was technically the driest site, although all sites were at least 1.00 inch wetter than normal, picking up 4.11 inches of precipitation, a 1.23 inch departure above normal, which was also the smallest departure from normal. Memphis and Jackson both remain down on precipitation for the year to date, at 1.41 inches and 4.41 inches drier than normal, respectively. Similar to Tupelo, Jonesboro has had no issues with rainfall this year, currently almost 9.00 inches wetter than normal for the year to date. The climate data for August are as follows:

TEMPERATURE DATA:

                               Memphis    Jackson   Jonesboro   Tupelo

Average Temperature (MONTH)  :   80.7       76.6      75.6      78.8

Normal Avg. Temp (MONTH)     :   82.0       78.6      79.8      80.8

Departure from Normal (MONTH):   -1.3       -2.0      -4.2      -2.0

Average Temperature (YEAR)   :   64.2       61.1      60.0      63.6

Normal Avg. Temp (YEAR)      :   65.0       61.8      62.1      64.3

Departure from Normal (YEAR) :   -0.8       -0.7      -2.1      -0.7

Maximum Temperature          :   98.0       98.0      96.0      98.0

Minimum Temperature          :   61.0       51.0      54.0      57.0  

PRECIPITATION DATA:

                                Memphis   Jackson   Jonesboro   Tupelo

Total Precipitation (MONTH)  :   4.11       4.62      5.62      6.50

Normal Precipitation (MONTH) :   2.88       3.00      2.54      3.45

Departure from Normal (MONTH):   1.23       1.62      3.08      3.05

Total Precipitation (YEAR)   :  33.97     31.46      40.09     52.57

Normal Precipitation (YEAR)  :  35.38     35.87      31.11     36.47

Departure from Normal (YEAR) :  -1.41     -4.41      8.98      16.10

Percent of Normal            :    96%        88%      129%      144%

Summer 2015 Review:

August concluded meteorological summer, which encompasses the months of June, July, and August. Temperatures this summer were near normal to slightly above normal at all sites except Jonesboro, which was slightly cooler than normal. Jackson led the departures with a 1.1 degree warmer than normal average temperature, while Tupelo was the closest to normal at only 0.2 degrees warmer than normal. Tupelo was by far the wettest site this summer, picking up over 20.00 inches of rain, which was 8.29 inches wetter than normal. Jonesboro was 4.48 inches of precipitation wetter than normal over the summer, while Memphis was 2.65 inches above normal. Jackson was the driest site of the summer, picking up just slightly less than 10.00 inches of rain, a 2.65 inch drier than normal departure.

TEMPERATURE DATA:

                              Memphis    Jackson     Jonesboro     Tupelo

Average Temperature (Summer15)  :   82.0         79.2          78.9           80.3 

Normal Avg. Temp (Summer)       :   81.4         78.1          79.5           80.1 

Departure from Normal (Summer15):    0.6          1.1          -0.6            0.2

PRECIPITATION DATA:

                              Memphis    Jackson      Jonesboro    Tupelo

Total Precipitation (Summer15)  :  13.75         9.68          14.31        20.16

Normal Precipitation (Summer)   :  11.10        12.33          9.83         11.87 

Departure from Normal (Summer15):   2.65        -2.65          4.48          8.29 

Climate Outlook:

The one month temperature outlook from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has the entire region with enhanced odds of above normal temperatures for the month of September. The one month precipitation outlook has area wide equal chances of above, near, or below normal precipitation totals.

The three month temperature outlook, encompassing all of meteorological fall, or the months of September, October, and November, has equal chances of above, near, or below normal temperatures for the entire Mid-South. The three month precipitation outlook has enhanced odds of above normal precipitation totals for the region. Equal chances denote an absent of a clear climate signal to indicate an outcome with decent certainty. Although a strong El Nino is currently forecast, the greatest effect this phenomenon has on the Mid-South is typically during the winter months, making any of its contributions to our fall climate harder to predict.

MAYE