AMHERST – Don’t let Tuesday’s rain fool you, it has been a dry July.
“It’s great if you’re on vacation, but not so great if you are a farmer and are waiting for crops to grow or are a gardener,” Bob Robichaud of Environment Canada said.
While Environment Canada was forecasting a warmer than normal summer, it was calling for a bit more precipitation than normal.
While June was much wetter than normal, 130 per cent wetter than average, July has only seen about 30 per cent of the expected precipitation – and that includes the rain that fell in rain and showers on Tuesday.
“We had a big ridge build over the region early in July and it has stayed there. Any rain systems have either been transiting through northern New Brunswick or have been out to sea off Nova Scotia,” Robichaud said. “Any rain systems just don’t seem to hold together before getting here.”
Robichaud said data from the research station at Nappan indicates 23 mm of rain has fallen so far this month. The normal is 73 mm.
He said the temperature has been about a degree warmer than normal.
Looking ahead to August, forecasters are calling for an average month. Normally, about 81 mm of rain falls at Nappan during August. Last year was much wetter than normal with 136 mm.
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