The first six months of the year brought well below-average precipitation to Rochester and the Finger Lakes. That has certainly changed in the first half of July.
What You Need To Know
- At the end of June, we were near drought conditions
- 2021 precipitation was nearly 5 inches below the average on June 30
- July 1-15 is running nearly 3 inches above average as measured at the Frederick Douglass GRIA
- With half the month to go, we are just 1.4 inches shy of making the top ten list of wettest Julys
Some communities have seen more precipitation and others less due to the scattered nature of showers and storms this time of year, but we have all been wet in Rochester and the Finger Lakes.
The reason we have been so wet over the past two weeks is due to the pattern across North America.
A large ridge of high pressure continues to bring hot and dry weather to the Western United States. Downstream of this, we have a trough of low pressure.
When you are underneath the trough, you are typically wetter than average and cooler than average. While we have had hot weather days, July temperatures are 2.0 degrees below average through the 14th.
It's not just Rochester and the Finger Lakes experiencing the wet weather. Take a look at precipitation totals around the state over the last two weeks, courtesy of New York State Meso Net developed at the University at Albany.
Most of the state has been running above the long-term, 30-year average.
