by Kate Evans
It’s been a wetter and warmer six months than in previous years, according to weather data from the NOAA Nation
al Weather Service.
Regional rainfall has been above normal every month since April except for in August so far, said National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Pallozzi from the Sterling, Virginia forecast office. Area temperatures this year since April have also been above normal.
Pallozzi said that the July 2019 rainfall recorded in Martinsburg was 6.71 inches, some 3.04 inches above normal for the month. In April, the area had 3.88 inches of rain (.54 inches above normal), in May it rained 5.89 inches (1.8 inches above normal), and in June the area got 4.74 inches (.98 inches above normal) Rainfall this month, through August 18, was just .2 inches of rainfall, 1.63 inches below normal.
For this year from January through August 18, some 32.38 inches of rainfall were recorded for the region in Martinsburg, with the normal rainfall considered as 24.99 inches for that time period, Pallozzi said. During last year’s record-breaking spring and summer, the recorded rainfall was 36.15 inches from January through August 18.
The Cacapon State Park weather station recorded 28.28 inches of rain for this year from January through August 18, with 25.58 inches being normal rainfall for the year this far, Pallozzi said. The highest recorded rainfall value for that park station from January through August 18 was 31.82 inches of rain in 1978.
Temperatures
The average temperature recorded in Martinsburg in April this year was 56.9 degrees, which was 4.5 degrees above
normal. In May, the average temperature was 66.8 degrees (5.7 degrees above normal). In June, the average temperature was 71.3 degrees (.9 degrees above normal) and in July it was 77.2 degrees (2.4 degrees above normal). August temperatures have averaged 76.1 degrees — 2.5 degrees above normal.
In June, 2019 the highest monthly temperature was 93 degrees on June 29. In July, it reached 99 degrees on July 21. This past Sunday, August reached its highest temperature of 94 degrees, said Pallozzi.
Last year, the highest monthly temperatures recorded in Martinsburg were 92 degrees on May 12, 94 degrees on June 18, 95 degrees on July 2 and 90 degrees on August 5, 8 and 17.
