Our extremely warm and dry summer continued to roll along this past weekend with mostly dry continues and high temperatures topping 100 degrees for some locations in the state. Just how extreme has this growing season been? The featured chart presents the combination of statewide precipitation departure along with average temperature departure since the first of May. The unit of measure is sigma (one standard deviation from average). This convention allows a somewhat equitable comparison between temperature and precipitation departures. The circle on the chart represents an equidistant line that passes through 2012. Only four other years show up as more extreme than this year and they are all well known to Iowa's climate history.

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Tags:   2012