We all know it was a cool July here in Northeast Wisconsin, but what about the rest of the region? A trough over the eastern half of the country produced much cooler temperatures than normal for the Midwest and the Northeast. For this blog specifically, I will focus on the Midwest.

Iowa, Illinois and Indiana saw the coldest July on record… Just for a reference, records for the region date back 114 years.

There were also several cities (listed below) that witnessed there coldest July on record.

Madison, WI
Grand Rapids, MI
Cedar Rapids, IA
Rockford, IL
South Bend, IN
Cincinnati, OH
Frankfort, KY

Let’s get away from cities and back to states. It was the second coldest July on Record right here in Wisconsin. Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky also fall under this category.

So with this in mind, how did the entire Midwest fare? Based on preliminary temperature data, this was the coldest July on record for the 9 state region. The average temperature was 68 degrees which is more than 4 degrees below normal.

Perhaps the most shocking statistics of all is the amount of records that were set. More than 400 record cold temperatures were set with 1,300 record low high temperatures. One of those records was set right here in Green Bay. On July 17th, the mercury only rose to 65°. It was the coolest high temperature ever on that date.

Many locations throughout the Midwest also stayed shy of 90°. Green Bay falls into this category, but that isn’t all too uncommon. We typically see only seven to eight 90° days all year. Conversely, places like Louisville generally see twelve 90° days in the month of July alone. This July, there were no days in the 90s.

One final statistic to share with you is days in the 80s. Green Bay saw 7, which is well below normal. Meanwhile, International Falls will continue to live up to its name as the Ice Box of the Nation. They didn’t see one day in the 80s all month, in fact, there average temperature was only 58.8°.

Until Next Time,

Meteorologist Andrew Thut

We finally received some rain over the entire area last night after getting more scattered showers in the past few weeks.  According to surface observations Green Bay received .20″; Appleton .37″; Oshkosh .39″; Shawano .47″; Manitowoc .35″; Waupaca .29″; Peshtigo 1.26″ and Antigo 1.16″.  Here’s a more complete list of the rainfall totals from the National Weather Service.

The map below has StormTrackerX estimated rainfall totals for the storm. 

Doppler-Estimated rainfall totals from StormTrackerX

Although Doppler-estimates of rainfall are sometimes not as accurate as surface observations, it does give you an indication of where the heaviest rain has fallen.  Here’s a very cool site where you can see the rainfall totals in the country and by clicking on an area you can narrow it down to the state.  Also by clicking on different “timeframes” and “products” you can see how the last 30 (or 60) day rain totals compares to normals. 

FAMILY:  My wife and I and the boys, Jake and Henry went to Rachel’s house over the weekend for a late lunch.  Had a great time and her husband is an excellent cook.  The moment of the day for me was when I looked out in the backyard and saw my 3-year-old Henry showing Bella (Rachel’s daughter) something. I yelled, “Pull your pants up Henry, Bella doesn’t want to see your underwear.”  I realize he’s proud he can go on the potty now but he has to learn to keep his pants on in public.

Hope your grass is greening up now after the rain.  Have a great day!

A Different Kind of Camping

   Welcome back to Packers Training Camp!  It’s a whole new look this year- for everyone involved.  For the players, the new field takes a little getting used to, but the slipping and sliding around of the first day seemed to get a little better on day two of camp.  For the fans, it’s a much better view of camp, as they have a place to watch that is a little more comfortable than dodging the traffic on Oneida.  With the raised stands, they get a better view, and can hear the players better as well.   For the media, it isn’t that much different, though we have a nice afternoon shade spot, thanks to the Don Hutson Center.

   Sunday was offensive penalty day at camp.  Not officially, of course, but it could have been.  False starts, illegal snaps, poor play.  At one point I thought Aaron Rodgers was going to pop someone.  Still, lots of time left in camp to clean that up.  Even with the new system being put in place, the defense looks to be ahead of the offense right now.  Some players have been standing out- Jeremy Thompson looks good in coverage- he told me he lost some weight, trying to get quicker- though he hasn’t be able to get by the likes of Chad Clifton.  No one gets by Chad Clifton in training camp, by the way.  They just don’t.

      Hopefully the kinks will be worked out as they go along.   Hit of camp so far, by the way, Nick Collins giving DeShawn Wynn a forearm shot and de-cleated him!   We’ll hopefully get more fun as the days go on.