While this isn’t exactly a shock to anyone who calls the Tuscarawas Valley home, it is now official – this summer was the dryest summer on record in Tuscarawas County.
Officially, only 4.78 inches of rain was recorded at the New Philadelphia airport for the entire season. (Meteorological summer runs June 01 to August 31) That’s nearly 7 inches below what we normally end up with for the summer.
Not surprisingly, our area is currently in drought, with southern and eastern portions of Tuscarawas County in severe drought.
Areas of drought are expected to expand and intensify in the coming weeks as significant rainfall looks highly unlikely. September is one of our dryest months of the year, with an average of 3.26 inches of rainfall.
This summer was also the fifth hottest on record since the National Weather Service started gathering climate data for our area at the New Phila airport.
Climate records for the Tuscarawas Valley go back to 1948 (76 years).
Regarding the this summer being the dryest on record. What was the rain fall total of the drought of 1988?
The records show that the summer of 1988 brought 9.19 inches of rain.