CT August Recap

This post will be the first in a series of posts where I recap the weather of August and summer 2020 for Connecticut and Vermont. There's a lot to cover in these posts, so we'll get right to it.

Isaias

The big story for Connecticut was Tropical Storm Isaias, which wreaked havoc in the state on August 4th. Unlike past extreme weather events that I've lived through in Connecticut, practically no region of the state was spared during Isaias, as power outages and damage occurred throughout the entire state.

(PowerOutage.US)

The above map shows power outages in the state on during the evening after Isaias moved through southern New England, and I think the most telling aspect of it is the consistency of the reds and oranges in Connecticut. This underscores the fact that Isaias' impacts were widespread throughout the state. Aside from straight-line winds that reached 85 mph, Isaias produced a tornado in Westport and a deluge of rain. The storm will go down as one of the more memorable events in Connecticut weather history.

Tornadoes

While not known as a tornado hot spot, Connecticut saw its fair share of tornadoes this August. 5, to be exact. On Sunday, August 2, just before Isaias was set to strike the state, an EF-0 tornado hit Sharon and an EF-1 tornado passed through Falls Village. As I mentioned above, there was a tornado associated with Isaias in Westport on August 4. Just a few days ago, on the 27th, the National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Bethany, and a EF-0 tornado struck Kent. August 27th was an active weather day throughout the state, as storms moved southeast and caused unusually large hail for Connecticut and power outages in some areas.

August 28th in Branford (Peter Hvizdak/Hearst Connecticut Media)

Temperatures

As has been the case all summer, August was a hot month in Connecticut. At Bradley International Airport (BDL) in Windsor Locks, CT, where a first-order weather station is located, the August 2020 average temperature was 74.6 °F, when normal is 71.9 °F, giving us an temperature departure from normal of 2.7 °F for the month. This average makes August 2020 the 6th warmest on record at BDL, and records date back to 1949 at the airport. There were two heat waves this month; the first lasted 5 days and ended on the 12th and the second was a 3 day heat wave that ended on the 23rd. The month's highest temperature was 96 °F, which occured on the 10th.

(NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

Daily record high temperatures were achieved on August 23rd and 24th. On both days, the high temperature reached 93 °F, which is a fairly weak record. (You can see this by looking at the above graph, which shows that the red shaded range which shows high temperature records dip slightly on the 23rd and 24th).

Yesterday (the 31st), was a very comfortable day, and we actually had the coolest temperature of the month at 48 °F, which you can see from the lower bar on the above graph for the 31st. Mostly, though, low temperatures were in the 60s, and we had 5 days where the overnight low temperature only did not dip below 70.

Precipitation

BDL saw 2.20 inches of rain this month, which, despite being only 0.02 in. less than what we saw in June and July combined, was still less than the August average of 3.93 inches. On the day that Isaias passed through Connecticut, only 0.15 inches of rain fell, showing that the storm produced minimal precipitation in the northern part of the state near BDL.

Aug 2020 accumulated precipitation (NOAA Regional Climate Centers/xmACIS)

We received the month's greatest rainfall total on the 27th, when 0.60 inches of rain fell on the big severe weather day in the state. While we did have more precipitation this August than we did in June and July, it was still quite dry and little was done to alleviate the drought that persists in Northern Connecticut.

Wrap up

August 2020 was a exciting and hectic weather month in Connecticut. We saw five tornadoes and a major tropical storm passed through the state, causing significant damage. As has been the trend all summer, it was warm and dry this month, and the drought persists in the state. We are now entering September, which marks the start of meteorological fall and one of my favorite times of the year. It'll be interesting to see what occurs weather-wise this month!