Tri-Cities breaks cool streak with a few hot days in August | Tri-City Herald

The Tri-Cities broke its six-month streak of cool monthly average temperatures in August with the help of some hot days toward the end of the month.

September also is expected to be warmer than normal this year, according to the National Weather Service.

Normal highs for the Tri-Cities are 82.9 degrees at the start of the September, falling to 76.9 degrees at month's end. Normal lows for the Tri-Cities fall from 53.3 degrees at the start of the month to 48.2 degrees at the end.

August ended without a temperature of 100 degrees for the year in Kennewick, where the weather service records the temperatures it uses in its monthly statistics for the Tri-Cities. That was despite a warm streak late in the month that included a high of 99 degrees on Aug. 28, the hottest temperature of the year.

The average temperature for the month in the Tri-Cities was 76.8 degrees, which was 2.4 degrees above normal. High temperatures averaged 91.4 degrees, which was 1.8 degrees above normal.

Low temperatures averaged 62.2 degrees, which was 2.9 degrees above normal. The coldest temperature was 54 degrees on Aug. 16.

At Hanford, the temperature hit 100 degrees Aug. 27 and 28. It was the first year since the Hanford Meteorological Station began keeping records in 1945 that August started without a temperature of 100 degrees recorded at Hanford.

No high or low daily temperature records were set at Hanford, although the high of 99 degrees Aug. 26 and the high of 100 degrees Aug. 27 each came within 1 degree of the record high for those dates.

The coolest temperature for the month at Hanford was 52 degrees on Aug. 14, according to data from the Hanford Meteorological Station.

In September, the weather service is expecting drier than usual weather in the Tri-Cities. Normal precipitation for the month is 0.35 inch.

Precipitation this year has reached 4.42 inches, which is 0.24 inch above normal for the Tri-Cities, according to the weather service. Since October, the start of the water year, precipitation in the Tri-Cities has totaled 9.04 inches, which is 2.2 inches above normal.

The highest wind gust in the Tri-Cities for the month was 36 mph on Aug. 28. At Hanford it was 50 mph on the same date.