Meteorological summer 2009: Cooler than average

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Twin Cities NWS graphical forecast shows temerpatures returning to near normal Tuesday.

It's not you imagination. It really has been cool this summer.

Meteorological summer is defined by the period from June 1st through August 31st. That's ususally the three warmest months of the year in Minnesota. This year, it fell a bit short of average.

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In the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota, it was a little cool. Up north in places like International Falls, some parts of summer were the coolest on record.

The good news is August erased the drought in much of Minnesota. Several inches of rain imrpoved dourht conditions across the state.

Here's how the Twin Cities fared this summer.

June: Average temperature: 67.7 (-0.7) Rainfall: 2.86" (-1.48")

July: Average temperature: 70.0 (-3.2) Rainfall: 2.17" (-1.87")

August: Average temperature: 69.7 (-1.0) (unofficial) Rainfall: 6.43" (+2.49")

Add it all up and the Twin Cities ran about 1.6 degrees below average this summer. The good news is our wet August caught us up on rainfall. Since June 1st we've recorded 11.46" of rainfall at Twin Cities Airport. That's just .86" below average.

Hurricane Jimena threatens Cabo:

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Borderline category 5 Hurricane Jimena looks to pass just west of Cabo San Lucas and then cross the Baja Pensinslua and head for Arizona as a tropical storm. These systems can bring much needed rainfall to the Desert Southwest.

New tropical storm ahead?

A disturbance east of the Leeward Islands has a good chance of becoming the seaon's next tropical storm. NHC says there is a greater than 50% chance that Tropical Storm Erika may develop within the next 48 hours. Stay tuned.

PH