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Warm pattern resumed in June

We're a bit late here taking a look back at the weather for Baltimore during the past month. Just threw out the last wedding guests.

After a cool and very wet May, June at BWI resumed the warm pattern that has prevailed here since the beginning of the year. Temperatures at the airport averaged 75.3 degrees last month. That was 3.5 degrees above the long-term average of 71.8 degrees, and made it the warmest June since 1994, and the fourth-warmest in Baltimore in 65 years.

1943:  79.8 degrees

1994:  77.2 degrees

1949:  75.6 degrees

2008:  75.3 degrees

So far this year, only May ended cooler than the norm.

Sun photo/Mauricio RubioPrecipitation was close to the June average for BWI, at 3.70 inches. The long-term average is 3.43 inches. Ten days saw measurable rainfall.

The high temperature for the month was 96 degrees, on the 10th. The low was 52 degrees, on June 18. No new records were set.

Not unexpectedly, given the warm temperatures, we ran well ahead on cooling degree-days, a measure of the demand for energy for cooling. We were up 34 percent over the average for June.

Looking ahead, July is typically our hottest month, with average temperatures peaking third week in the high 80s. The all-time record high temperature for Baltimore is 107 degrees, set on July 10, 1936. Only 7 dates have record highs of less than 100 degrees.

The coolest record daily high for the month (and therefore the easiest record to break) is 97 degrees, set on July 12, 1908 and July 24, 1987.

The record low for the month in Baltimore is 50 degrees, set on July 1, 1988 and again on July 3, 2001. The warmest record low is 59 degrees, set July 19, 1962.

The wettest July on record for Baltimore was in 1889, when 11.03 inches fell. The driest was in 1955, with just 0.3 inches in the gauge.

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About the blogger
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1993, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page.
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