Yesterday's rain was a spotty and not-very-satisfying affair. Annapolitans got the best of it by far. The weather instruments at the Naval Academy registered an inch of rain, nearly all of it in a heavy rain early in the evening. But most of the rest of us got only enough to wet the topsoil and puddle the streets. Here's a sampling:

Annapolis:  1.00 inch

BWI: 0.13 inch

The Sun: 0.13 inch

Reagan National: 0.31 inch

Ocean City:  0.17 inch

WeatherDeck (Cockeysville): 0.21 inch

In any case the drought continues. Even at BWI, where a heavy and very localized rain on July 10 skewed the numbers, the record books show a rainfall deficit of 5.22 inches since May 1. Yesterday's showers may mean some minor improvement on this week's Drought Monitor map. It will incorporate data through Tuesday. It's due for release Thursday morning. Here's last week's map.

It looks like today will be yet another 90-plus day at BWI. So far (through Sunday) we have had 25 days in the 90s this season. That compares with 31 days by this time last year. That summer ended with 39 days of 90-plus weather. The difference so far lies in July. We had just 10 July days in the 90s at BWI, compared with 18 days in July 2006. 

The first week of August last year was the hottest of the summer, with several days in a row of 100 degrees or more, both downtown and at BWI. Our forecast for the week looks pretty dang hot, but not quite as bad as last year.