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 days, 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 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: