July 2007 was another warm and dry month in Minnesota. Some of the driest spots in the state were: Pipestone with .30 inches of precipitation, Hutchinson with .50 inches and Litchfield with .55 inches. Redwood Falls had the lowest total found in the state so far with only .16 inches of precipitation. This total is the driest on record for July at Redwood Falls. Some of the only areas that finished with above normal rains for July 2007 were in northwest Minnesota.
The type of rainfall seen in July 2007 was mostly in the form of convective thunderstorms either in isolated clusters or along a cool front. It was one of these cool fronts that stopped July from being as warm as July 2006. There was a mid month break in the heat with temperatures struggling to reach 80 for a high at times. What was missing was a large storm system bringing any widespread general rainfall.
It's been a very warm summer so far. Putting May-July together for the Twin Cities the mean temperature was 71.0 degrees or 4 degrees above normal. This was warm enough to be the 4th warmest May through July on record for the Twin cities going back to 1891. Because of isolated thunderstorms that favored the rain bucket at the airport and missed many areas of the Twin Cities, the same period was the 12th driest on record. At St Cloud the same period May through June was the 9th warmest and the 5th driest on record back to 1891.
Listed below are reports about the July heat courtesy the National Weather Service.
JULY 2007 WAS DRY ACROSS THE REGION WITH RAINFALL UNDER A HALF INCH AT MANY LOCATIONS. THE AREA SOUTH OF SIOUX FALLS WAS ESPECIALLY DRY WITH TOTAL MONTHLY RAINFALL LESS THAN A TENTH OF AN INCH. A CORRIDOR NEAR AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 90...FROM CHAMBERLAIN INTO NORTHWEST IOWA...HAD THEIR DRIEST JULY ON RECORD WITH ONLY A TRACE REPORTED AT CENTERVILLE SOUTH DAKOTA AND SIOUX CENTER IOWA...AND ZERO RAINFALL AT HAWARDEN IOWA. STATISTICS FOR SITES ACROSS THE AREA ARE AS FOLLOWS... DRIEST JULY ON RECORD... CITY JULY 2007 RAINFALL PREVIOUS DRIEST JULY HAWARDEN IA ZERO 0.12 INCHES IN 1930 CENTERVILLE TRACE 0.31 INCHES IN 1975 CANTON 0.01 INCHES 0.32 INCHES IN 1967 MARION 0.03 INCHES 0.21 INCHES IN 1975 MENNO 0.05 INCHES 0.10 INCHES IN 1930 MITCHELL 0.08 INCHES 0.24 INCHES IN 1947 ALEXANDRIA 0.11 INCHES 0.25 INCHES IN 1916 CHAMBERLAIN 0.24 INCHES /TIES/ 0.24 INCHES IN 1954 SIOUX CENTER IA TRACE 0.32 INCHES IN 2006 ALTON IA 0.23 INCHES 0.25 INCHES IN 2006 SECOND DRIEST JULY... CITY JULY 2007 RAINFALL DRIEST JULY ON RECORD FORESTBURG 0.10 INCHES 0.06 INCHES IN 1930 BROOKINGS 0.14 INCHES 0.09 INCHES IN 1894 HURON 0.20 INCHES 0.15 INCHES IN 1932 THIRD DRIEST JULY... CITY JULY 2007 RAINFALL DRIEST JULY ON RECORD WAGNER 0.05 INCHES TRACE IN 1930 AND 1967 FLANDREAU 0.24 INCHES 0.08 INCHES IN 1930 SIOUX FALLS 0.32 INCHES 0.25 INCHES IN 1947 TYNDALL 0.45 INCHES 0.24 INCHES IN 1930 PIPESTONE MN 0.30 INCHES 0.18 INCHES IN 1936 TRACY MN 0.58 INCHES 0.51 INCHES IN 1936 FOURTH DRIEST JULY... CITY JULY 2007 RAINFALL DRIEST JULY ON RECORD GREGORY 0.48 INCHES 0.44 INCHES IN 1967 HOWARD 0.50 INCHES 0.07 INCHES IN 1930 SIBLEY IA 0.64 INCHES 0.08 INCHES IN 1947 FIFTH DRIEST JULY... CITY JULY 2007 RAINFALL DRIEST JULY ON RECORD PICKSTOWN 0.54 INCHES 0.00 INCHES IN 2002 TYLER MN 0.56 INCHES 0.15 INCHES IN 1975 IN GREGORY IT WAS THE THIRD JULY IN A ROW WITH LESS THAN A HALF INCH OF RAIN. RAINFALL IN 2006 WAS 0.45 INCHES AND IN JULY 2005 IT WAS 0.47 INCHES.