Today we start August, the third and final month of meteorological summer. August is only about a degree behind July in average temperature, but 90^oF days are much less likely in August than in July, mainly because the sun isn't as high in the sky so the days are getting a little shorter. In fact, from the beginning to the end of August, we'll lose one hour and ten minutes of daylight.

The number of thunderstorms also tends to fall off in August. This has a lot to do with what's happening at high altitudes. Warm air rising from the ground has a better chance of bubbling up into a thunderstorm if the air higher up is cold. By August, even the air thousands of feet above the ground has usually warmed up enough so the atmosphere is less likely to make tall clouds.

Still, August air is typically loaded with moisture - in fact, in our area, August has more days with at least two inches of rain than any other month. Part of the reason for so many big rains is that tropical season usually starts to pick up in August, so there's an additional mechanism to potentially produce torrential downpours.