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Oddly Rainy August Was Hottest Since 1941

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 4, 2007

TAMPA - August in Hillsborough was even wetter and hotter than normal.

Pinellas and Hillsborough counties recorded above-normal rainfall for the month, even though other counties in the Tampa Bay area received lower than average rain for the month and all Florida counties remain below average for the first eight months of 2007.

Rainfall this year ranges from 73 percent of normal in Hernando and Polk counties to 83 percent of normal in Hillsborough. Pinellas, at 79 percent, and Pasco, at 77 percent, fall in the middle.

The rainfall numbers come from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which records daily rain at more than 80 locations in 15 counties. The official National Weather Service rainfall numbers are measured at Tampa International Airport.

August's rain helped increase the Hillsborough River's flow slightly – enough that water is flowing over Tampa's dam on the river. However, on a scale of 1 to 100, the river is at a 5. In August of last year, the river was a 2.

Tampa Bay Water is also able to divert river water again to its reservoir in southern Hillsborough, which is used for storage to supplement water supply in the dry season. Lack of water in the rivers prevented the regional utility from filling the reservoir from October until July.

The rainfall shortage for 2007 dates to last year. Since August of 2006, every county in the Tampa Bay area received from 75 percent of normal rain, in Polk, to 85 percent, in Pinellas and Hillsborough.

In the past 12 months, Pasco's rainfall has been 79 percent of normal, and Hernando's has been 76 percent.

That translates into shortfalls ranging from 8 to more than 14 inches.

Weather service temperature readings also confirm that August was unusually hot in Tampa – the hottest in 56 years and the second-hottest August since Tampa records began in 1890.

The average daily temperature last month was 84.9 degrees, just above the 84.4 degrees in August 1951 and only a bit below the all-time August record of 85.1 degrees in 1941.

The normal average temperature – the sum of the high and low each day, divided by two – is 82.7 degrees.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731 or njohnson@tampatrib.com.

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