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July was cooler and wetter than average

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Joe Houle took advantage of the warm temperatures and onshore breeze to practice his ground handling techniques with his paraglider. He should get more nice days to work on his craft, as the National Weather Service predicts more warm days for the next month.

ALPENA — Weather in Alpena last month was far from typical as the area saw significantly more rain than normal.

After a hot beginning to the month, temperatures cooled for a good portion of July, which led to a cooler than average month.

Still, the rain and below normal temperatures didn’t keep residents from enjoying their summer activities.

According to the National Weather Service, for the month, there was a total of 5.86 inches of precipitation; more than 2.5 inches above the long-term average of 3.20 inches.

The average temperature was 68 degrees, a touch lower than the 67 degrees long-term averages show.

News photo by Steve Schulwitz A blanket of haze caused by smoke from the forest fires out west muted the sun over the boat harbor in Alpena on Wednesday morning. The sun wasn’t out as much as normal in July, as there was above-average rainfall and below-average temperatures.

The warmest temperature recorded was 89 degrees on July 6, while the coldest was on July 10 when temperatures dropped to 47 degrees.

There were no records broken in July.

Jessie Samson, was visiting Starlite Beach earlier this week. She said she wishes the weather would have been warmer, but added that it was, for the most part, warm enough to do the things she wanted to do outside.

“It went from hot to me having to turn my heat on for a few nights,” she said. “I think the forecast for August is for it to be hot, so maybe that will make up for it.”

The National Weather Service predicts daytime temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s for the first half of the month and little rain. Meteorologist Pat Bak said the second half of the month will remain warmer than normal, but there is an increased chance of rain.

Late in July, there were several late-night low temperatures that dipped in the 40s, and gave the area a tease of fall weather.

Bak said that isn’t uncommon, but added that long-range forecasts predict that the leaves won’t be changing for a while. There will be more opportunities to go to the beach.

“It is not unusual to have fall weather that early in the summer, but the overall weather pattern shows us fall is still a ways off,” Bak said. We have reached our peak though and the average high temperatures will begin to get lower in the next several weeks.”

The smoke from the wildfires out west and in Canada will continue to present a light haze around and over the sun in the area. Bak said if the smoke was to get thicker, it could impact temperatures, but he doesn’t see that happening.

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