Toledo’s July ends much drier than normal, third-coldest ever

Courtney Hall, 8, left, rests under the table as Zach Hall, 13, right, and Jacob Hall, 11, look for customers on Thursday at their drink stand.

An atmospheric pattern similar to the one that brought record cold and snow to Toledo last winter is responsible for unusually cool conditions during the month that just ended, meteorologists said on Thursday.

“Much like we did in the winter, our weather pattern kind of got stuck,” said Jay Berschback, chief meteorologist for WTVG-TV Channel 13. “We had a northwest flow that kept bringing in cooler air from Canada, and it never allowed a big ridge of hot air to take control.”

The 68.9-degree average daily mean temperature at Toledo Express Airport places third on the top-10 list for coldest Julys, tied with 2009, according to National Weather Service data. The coldest July ever in Toledo had an average daily mean of 68.0 degrees back in 1891.

The month ended Thursday with its third morning of record-cool air — a low of 48 degrees at the airport that tied a 1918 record.

Toledo had broken the July 29 record on Tuesday when it dipped to 49 — 1 degree below the mark from 1968 — and a week ago matched the July 25 record of 50, from 1953.

July had just seven days during which the mean temperature was at or above normal.

During the last 30 years, Toledo has average high temperatures of 84 or 85 degrees during July, but last month the daily high was warmer than normal on just six days, and it topped 90 just once — 91 on the 22nd.

“We’ve only hit 90 three times this summer. The normal up to now would be about nine,” Mr. Berschback said, adding that those few 90s days have been no warmer than 92.

“Even the hot days have not been oppressively hot.”

Mark Adams, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Cleveland, agreed that “to some degree” the pattern has been similar to winter.

With 86.3 inches of snow, Toledo’s recent winter was the snowiest on record by more than a foot. It also was among its coldest.

During July, “the jet stream kept dropping down into Ohio, bringing us cooler air from Canada moreso than it usually does this time of year,” Mr. Adams said.

Unusual for a cool month was that Toledo also was much drier than normal during July, Mr. Adams and Mr. Berschback said, though both noted that the rainfall at Toledo Express appeared to be flukey — nearby cities received considerably more rain than Toledo did.

“You’ve got 0.81 inch, and we had more than that on Sunday here,” Mr. Adams said, referring to Cleveland.

The 0.81 inch for the month would make July the eighth-driest in Toledo’s records.

“It’s been active around us with storms, just not at Toledo Express,” Mr. Berschback said.

“And we have not had soaking rains.”

The airport’s heaviest rainfall of the month was 0.51 inch on July 23. More than a tenth of an inch fell on only one other day — 0.17 inch on July 8.

Normal July rainfall is just over 3 inches. But this month’s deficit is slightly offset by wetter than normal weather during the first half of 2014, so no drought conditions currently exist in the Toledo area, Mr. Berschback said.

He added that rain could make a comeback during the next few days.

August will get off to “a fairly normal start,” with highs in the low 80s and chances for thunderstorms each day into early next week, he said.

“That’s very typical for early August,” Mr. Berschback said.

Contact David Patch at: dpatch@theblade.com or 419-724-6094.