By Brad Spakowitz
Correspondent
BROWN COUNTY – August was much wetter than normal.
The official observation by the National Weather Service was 8.30 inches of rain for Green Bay.
That’s a hefty 4.91 inches above average, placing August 2021 as the second wettest August on record.
The bulk of the rain fell in two prolonged bouts: The first round was Aug. 7-11 when 4.98 inches fell; the second round was Aug. 27-29 when 3.15 inches was reported.
The remaining paltry .17 inches fell between Aug. 23-24.
Green Bay wasn’t the only place drenched, as other area communities had plenty of rain as well.
Appleton reported 7.21 inches, Denmark 7.79 inches, Pulaski 9.28 inches and Clintonville a whopping 10.11 inches.
Both bouts of significant rain were the result of frontal boundaries somewhat stuck in place across the area, making for seemingly prolonged rounds of showers and storms.
Some storms were strong to severe – especially the early August ones.
Parts of Outagamie, Brown and Kewaunee counties were hit with powerful straight-line winds, knocking down trees and powerlines and causing some minor structural damage.
The early August storms also brought the first tornadoes of the season to our area.
An EF 1 Tornado (86-110 mph gusts) touched down Aug. 10 near Nichols (Outagamie County).
Two other tornadoes touched down early afternoon Aug. 11.
Both were weaker EF 0 tornadoes (65-85 mph gusts), with one near Angelica (Shawano County) and the other near Pulaski (Brown County).
Fortunately, no injuries or deaths were reported with any of the twisters.
August was also not the most pleasant month to be outdoors.
Most of the time it was very warm, very humid and overrun with mosquitos – the unfortunate result of the wet conditions.
The average monthly temperature was 71.1 degrees, which is 2.5 degrees above the 30-year average.
Despite that statistic, there were no daytime highs in the 90s.
However, there were 24 days in the 80s, with the remaining seven were in the 70s.
The warmest temperature recorded was 88 degrees Aug. 10; the coolest, 52 degrees on the early morning of Aug. 14.
The official monthly climate summary reports 22 clear days, nine partly cloudy and no overcast days.
However, skies were frequently hazy, the result of atmospheric moisture that created the humidity, along with occasional wildfire smoke aloft.
Now that we’re into September, expect some noticeable weather changes over the coming weeks.
By the end of the month, the average high temperature drops to 64 degrees, the average low 43 degrees.
While September can bring some warm summery days, the lengthening nights bring the first chills of autumn.
Patchy frost is not uncommon later in the month.
September averages 3.04 inches of rainfall, and no snow has ever been reported in September.
One of the most noticeable changes will be the rapid loss of daylight – Roughly 3 minutes a day.
That adds up in a hurry, so by the end of the month, we will have lost nearly 90 minutes of daylight.
On Sept. 30, the sun rises at 6:49 a.m. and sets at 6:33 p.m.
The Autumnal Equinox arrives Wednesday, Sept. 22, marking the official start of fall for the northern hemisphere.
Editor's note: Spakowitz recently announced he was taking a step back from his full-time meteorological duties at WBAY TV.
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