Welcome Back, GotterFinally Rain...Why so Cool?By Brian GotterMonday’s downpours were needed as things started to get dry quickly thanks to low humidity, gusty winds and strong sunshine. Temperatures have been cool, but the other three factors create dry soil conditions very rapidly this time of year. Monday’s 1.29” of rain at the airport was the most rain Milwaukee has seen since the 1.21” on May 13. Over the past 4 weeks, Milwaukee has only received 0.68” of rain…that is nearly 2” below normal during that time. Your yard and plants usually need about 1” of moisture every week during the summer months, so yards and plants starting to show signs of stress if you did not water. If you take out the 1.21” on May 13, the rest of the month had a meager 1.35” of rain...well below normal. It has been a cool and dry weather pattern compared to last spring when we had huge storm systems stalling over Wisconsin and pumping warmth and extreme humidity into the region that created record rainfall. We have been so cool this spring because warm fronts are staying south and high pressure systems are north. High pressure to the north brings us the chilly north and northeast winds off the lake...and warming up is nearly impossible with lake water temperatures in the 40s. To get those warm and humid summer days, we want the areas of high pressure to be to our south in order to get south and SW winds pumping in the warm air and moisture from the south..instead of the cold lake air. The pattern will eventually shift, it always does, but here’s a shocker! Winds will be out of the NE today..off the lake, so yet another cool day with scattered showers. Will summer ever arrive for more than a day at a time?
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