July temperatures could be among coolest in Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- July weather, usually hot as a firecracker, is on the way to setting new cool records.

In Columbia, temperatures the first 22 days of July averaged 72.2 Fahrenheit, putting the month so far in a tie with 1924 as the coolest July in 121 years of weather records.

"We've had only one day with a 90-degree high temperature," said Pat Guinan, University of Missouri Extension climatologist. "But we set two new morning low records at the 56-degree mark. I have to go back to 1994 to find a previous record-breaking low temperature in July."

It's not just Columbia. The whole state has felt below-normal temperatures, with averages running at minus 4 to minus 5 degrees from normal, he said. "While Missouri is cool, states to the north and northeast, the heart of the Corn Belt, have been colder," said Guinan, who tracks crop weather for the MU Extension Commercial Agriculture Program.

According to the automated recording station located in Mississippi County, the average temperature there as of July 22 is 75 degrees for July. The station recorded an average temperature of 80.5 on July 10, the hottest average temperature for the month, while the coolest average temperature day is 67.2 on July 21.

Just a short way south at the Delta Center at Portageville, where a recording station is also located, the average temperature for the month is 77.4. The hottest average reading for the month came on July 9 with 83.7 degrees while the coolest average reading for a day was 68.3 on July 21.

"We may have another 90-degree day, but then go back down for the rest of the month. Even with a few warmer days ahead, we'll likely record one of the 10 coolest Julys on record," he said.

"We are under a northwesterly airflow pattern that brings cool temperatures from Canada. That brings both cool and dry air intrusions, with occasional wet periods, over the Midwest." July's below-normal temperatures in the region are not an indicator one way or another on trends in average global temperatures, he said.

The coolest monthly average records to beat are 1924 with 72.2; 1950, 72.4; 1891, 72.4; 1905, 73.3; and 1904, 73.8.

Guinan maintains a statewide network of automated recording stations that provide local agricultural weather updates on the Internet. Historical records also are available on the site at agebb.missouri.edu/weather.