June 2020: Warm & Dry
June's temperatures rebounded after a chilly April and May (2.7 and 2.1 degrees below average, respectively). At 2.3 degrees above average, it was the warmest June in 10 years (and 16th warmest overall). Fourteen days were five degrees or more above average. Besides being warmer than average, June was also on the dry side, with the least rainfall in 21 years (and 22nd driest overall). The month had 1.76" of rain, which was very similar to May's 1.65" (like June, May was the 22nd driest). This was just the sixth time (since 1869) that May and June both received less than two inches, and the first time that consecutive months had less than two inches of precipitation since April and May 2016 .
Based on average temperature, June had the biggest warm-up following May since 2008. And out of all of the years of measurement, it was the 12th biggest warm-up after May (tied with two other years).
Although the number of days of 80°+ was close to average (18, including the final twelve days of the month), it was well above average for days of 85°+. 13 days had highs of 85° or warmer, with 11 of them between 85° and 89°. The two other days had highs of 90° (on June 22 and 28). At one point there was a streak of seven days in a row with highs of 85°+, the longest streak in June since 2010. Furthermore, the month's 11 days with lows in the 70s was more than double the average for June. Only three other Junes have had more lows of 70°+ (2010, 2005, and 1943 had 12; June 1895 had the same number as June 2020).
Through 6/26 it appeared the month would easily be among the ten driest Junes as just 0.98" had fallen. Beginning 6/12 there were 15 days in a row with no measurable rainfall (the longest dry streak since the fall of 2017, which had a streak of 18 days). Then 0.78" fell in the next three days. The 0.58" that fell on 6/29 (in less than an hour) made it the rainiest day of June (and a wind gust of 47 mph was the highest of the month).
Finally, the first half of 2020 was the driest since 1995 (16.15" was measured in Central Park, eight inches below average), and among all years it was the 17th driest first half of any year (tied with 1957).
Below are links for previous June recaps:
this joined 1917, 1941, 1953, 1957, 1993 and 1997 as the only seven Junes in which the last twelve days of the month all had highs of 80° or warmer. this joined 1952, 1976 and 2005 as the only four Junes with at least thirteen days of 85°+ to follow a May with no days of 85°+.
this tied 2010 as the June with the most daily highs of 87° (five), besting June 1934’s four such days. this month had fourteen days with a low of 69° or warmer. this was one more than the previous two Junes combined and the most of any June on record. this beat the old June record from 1895 and 2005 by one day. this was only the second year with at least fourteen daily lows of 69° or warmer by the end of June. the other year was 1895 when there were three in May and thirteen in June.
Posted by: William | 07/02/2020 at 02:00 PM
A typical June is 9 degrees warmer than May, but this year June was 13.4 degrees warmer; this is a considerable difference. What was the year of the greatest temperature difference between May and June, and how does this year compare?
Posted by: Henry | 07/02/2020 at 08:06 PM
The biggest warm-up between May and June was in 1967 as June's average temperature was 17.6 degrees warmer than May's (72.8 vs. 55.2). 2020's warm-up ranks 12th.
Posted by: Rob | 07/03/2020 at 01:12 AM
Is it possible that this year could be the driest since 2001?
Posted by: Landen | 07/24/2020 at 12:22 AM
to respond to the above question, the answer is yes, but not likely. 2020 had 22.73” of precip in the first seven months, while 2001 had 23.53” of precip in the first seven months. however, the last five months of 2001 had a combined total of 12.12”. no year since 2001 has had so little precip in the last five months (not to mention that as of early August, 2020 had rain from two tropical storms, Fay, and now probably Isaias).
Posted by: William | 08/01/2020 at 04:00 PM
this month had 27 days with a high of 75° or warmer (one more than the Junes of 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2021). this was the most days with a high of 75° or warmer in June since 1994, when there were 29 such days.
Posted by: William | 10/20/2021 at 11:44 PM