THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020628
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 33 lines
Summer is over . . . at least as far as the National Weather Service is concerned.
The government's meteorologists ignore the traditional seasons in favor of a neater system that lumps whole months together. Thus, summer ended Aug. 31.
For Hampton Roads, summer opened dry and then turned wet before ending on an average note.
June was the second-warmest on record with an average temperature of 79.6 degrees, which is 5.5 above normal. The record is 80, set in 1943. It was also the sixth-driest, with only 1.27 inches of rain recorded at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport. The driest June came in 1954, where a mere 0.37 of an inch fell in Norfolk.
July was the wettest on record with a whopping 14.37 inches of rain at the airport. The record fell on the last day of the month. The old mark was 13.73 inches set in 1975. The month also was the third-warmest, with an average temperature of 83, which was 4.8 above normal. The record is 83.8 set in 1880, and second place is 83.4 in 1993. The high of 98 on July 15 matched the record first set in 1880.
August was boring. The month's lone record came on the 25th, when the low of 57 matched a record for the date that has been hit several times, most recently in 1952. by CNB