Review of Summer 2018

Meteorological summer will end as September arrives Saturday morning. This summer will go into the record books as a hot one with highly variable amounts of precipitation. Let's look at the numbers.At the YNG airport, rain totals will finish between 3/4" and 1" below average. Temperatures will be a little more than 3 degrees above average.2018 was the warmest summer since 1995, just edging out 2016 and 2005.Rain totals will end up below average at the airport but some places had a lot more rain. That rainy spot in southeastern Mahoning County is of course due to the deluge that occurred over the course of a few hours a couple of weeks ago.Notice how northern Trumbull and Mercer look wet? Much of that was earlier in the season. It's been dry in those locations lately.In fact that zone is in the "abnormally dry" category on the latest drought monitor.2018 was the 2nd consecutive summer with below-average rain. This follows a streak of 5 straight wet summers.Meteorological summer may be ending but I think September will bring a continuation of the very warm pattern. 90 degree temperatures will be possible next week.