Now versus '93

July of 1993 went down in history as the wettest month in Iowa history when an average of 10.5 inches of rain fell across the state.

June of this year came in as a close second with a statewide average of 10.38 inches.

"I was wondering when the data came in if we might pass up July of '93," State Climatologist Harry Hillaker said. "It doesn't look like we did, which is fine."

In Spencer, the 12.81 inches that fell in June set the record for that month, easily surpassing the previous record of 9.34 inches in June of '93.

Hillaker explained that the high numbers made Spencer an anomaly.

"Spencer is a bit of an exception," he said. "It was mostly southern and central Iowa getting most of the rain in June."

So far, July has been drier, though still exceeding averages.

"Normal amounts for these first two summer months are 4.04 inches for June and 4.02 inches for July," according to Hillaker.

Through the first 28 days of the month, Spencer has received roughly six inches of rain, while the statewide average is 7.6 inches. That average puts the month as the fifth wettest July in 138 years of statewide averages, with more rain forecast across the state for the weekend.

Hillaker expects the Spencer area to stay dry and thunderstorm-free through the weekend.

"It looks like we'll be getting a break over the weekend," he predicted. "We might get rain back into the picture late Sunday night and early Monday morning.

"Next week looks to get a little more interesting," he continued. "The official forecast shows rain chances aren't really great mainly because it's not easy to pinpoint that far ahead. It looks like a fairly good bet to have two or three thunderstorm episodes next week. Some of those could be fairly heavy rain."

With the Little Sioux River already above flood stage in Spencer and Linn Grove and the Ocheyedan River near Spencer cresting at 10.42 on Sunday -- 2.42 feet above flood stage -- rain is not a popular word in the area.

In Spencer, the Little Sioux River fell from a crest of 13.6 Sunday to 10.9 feet -- still above the flood stage of 10 feet -- Friday morning.

"If we don't get more rain, it will fall below flood stage Monday morning," Hillaker said, citing National Weather Service predictions.

Flood stage in Linn Grove is 18 feet. The Little Sioux River crested 1.16 feet above that level early Wednesday morning, dropped to 18.6 feet Friday morning and is expected to go below flood stage as soon as Saturday afternoon.

Heavy rain and flooding this summer has made it easy to compare to the floods of '93.

"We could have had worse flooding like a '93 year when we were consistently cool and getting rain," Hillaker analyzed.

But this summer has been warm and wet, which breaks the mold for Iowa summers.

"In summer in Iowa, you normally have regimes of hot and dry or cool and wet," Hillaker stated. "Warm and wet doesn't come along very often, but it did in June and July."

Though rare in Iowa, warm weather is the best condition to pair with wet situations.

"It dries things out more quickly and vegetation grows more rapidly, which helps remove still more moisture out of the ground," he said.

Evaporation rates have been 20 percent higher than normal, though not high enough to cancel the high amounts of rain, he added.

"The warm weather is the big difference," he reiterated, once again contrasting against the summer of '93. "It was a mighty chilly year and the crops showed it. Crop yields across the state were worse than the drought of '88... This year, other than all the replanting, initially the crop got in the ground quite early, which is usually a good thing."

Reflecting on the winter and spring months, Hillaker said it looked "to be the latest planting ever."

But, March ended with above normal temperatures, setting up both a warm spring and warm summer, as July was the fifth month in a row with warmer than average temperatures recorded.

June ushered in wet conditions, which have characterized the entire summer, Hillaker concluded.

"The first widespread rain was .5 to one inch June 3 ... and another rain was June 7, but the first big one came June 10 and it's been that way ever since."