Chuck Otte [email protected]
June weather for the Junction City area can be summed up by above average temperatures and above average rainfall. The above average rainfall, and how much above average, becomes tricky to define as will be explained later!
The average daily high for June was 86.7, 1.6 degrees above normal. The average overnight low was 67.4, 3.3 degrees above normal. This gave us a monthly mean temperature of 77.1, 2.5 degrees above normal. This is the fifth consecutive month with above average temperatures. For 2024 only January has been below average. The highest temperature for the month was 100 degrees on June 24th. The lowest temperature was the morning low of 57 on the 7th. There was one temperature record tied in June. The overnight low of 76 on the 22nd tied the record high low temperature. That record was set in 2010.
While the temperature was above normal, we are fortunate that it was not record setting warm. The warmest June on record was in 1953 when we had a monthly mean temperature of a sizzling 83.0 degrees. The coldest June on record was in 1982 with a monthly mean temperature of 67.8 degrees.J une is, on average, our second wettest month of the year with average rainfall of 4.84 inches. Depending on where you were in the area, you received that and more in 3½ hours on Friday evening! The official weather station for the Junction City area is at the Corps of Engineers project office at Milford Lake.
For the 24-hour period that included Friday evening, that station received 1.57 inches of rain. There are several reporters to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS) that were in the area of significant rainfall. These individuals all use a standardized, highly accurate rain gauge and report those findings to CoCoRaHS: https://www.cocorahs.org/. Two stations in west Junction City (west of Highway 77) reported 5.41 and 5.50 inches. A reporting station in Grandview Plaza reported 6.05 inches. All of this rain fell in less than 4 hours. Amazingly, these amounts are not as much as fell in a 24-hour period ending at 7 a.m. October 11, 1973. On that occasion 6.68 inches of rain was recorded.
Ten miles north of south of Junction City received no measurable rainfall from Friday’s storm. These extreme variations are not as uncommon as one might think, but memorable when they do happen. Officially, the Milford Lake reporting station tallied 6.53 inches for the month of June. Long term average for the first half of the year is 16.96 inches. Milford Lake has received 19.05 inches of rain. This is the third month in a row with above average precipitation. The wettest June on record was in 1965 when 11.90 inches of rain fell. The previously mentioned Grandview Plaza CoCoRaHS station recorded 11.93 inches of rain in June! On the other end of the spectrum, the driest June on record occurred in 1966 when 0.20 inches was all that could be tallied in area gauges.
July is our hottest month of the year and rainfall continues to taper off. Average July rainfall is 4.14 inches. Daily highs in July are fairly flat with expected afternoon high temperatures to run about 90 degrees through the month. Likewise, overnight lows are expected in the 68 to 69 degrees range. Looking at long term averages (70+ years), the hottest day of the year is July 18th. In general, we expect temperatures to slowly start to drop after about mid July but 100 degree or hotter temperatures are not out of the question well into September.-30-