Now that we are finished with July, let’s take a look back. Typically July is a hot and humid month with quite a bit of rainfall as we are usually well established into our rainy season.

July 2017 had quite a bit of rain across the area following our wet June. But, the weather pattern did stray from our normal afternoon and evening thunderstorm pattern quite a bit. We had many days with extra clouds.

One would think that would lead to cooler weather, but most areas were above average for July mainly because of much warmer than normal morning low temperatures. Again, that is also because of the extra cloud cover.

Here are the numbers from July…

Tampa
Average Temperature 84.2 (1.2 degrees above average)
Rainfall 8.99” (1.92 inches above normal)

Lakeland
Average Temperature 83.6 (1.6 degrees above average)
Rainfall 20.07” (12.58 inches above average)

Bradenton
Average Temperature 82.9 (0.5 degrees above average)
Rainfall 9.18” (1.20 inches above average)

Brooksville
Average Temperature 82.6 (1.9 degrees above average)
Rainfall 6.88” (1.16 inches below average)

Clearwater
Average Temperature 84.6 (1.4 degrees above average)
Rainfall 7.07” (2.23 inches below average)

St Petersburg
Average Temperature 85.5 (1.6 degrees above average)
Rainfall 12.24” (4.90 inches above average)

Winter Haven
Average Temperature 84.0 (1.1 degrees above average)
Rainfall 6.68” (0.82 inches below average)

As we continue into August, our rainy season remains in place. We usually have the daily thunderstorms. This is also the time of year when we start to approach the peak of the hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. (The statistical peak is Sept. 10.) Because of that, we shift our focus to watching tropical waves thousands of miles away coming off the West Coast of Africa.

Right now, it looks like the remainder of the hurricane season will be a bit more active than historical averages and here in Central Florida, we should stay generally and seasonably wet and warm.

The first good cold front usually isn't expected until at the very earliest mid to late September.