In Freestone County, July 2020 fell just 0.19 inches short of tying the current July rainfall record with 8.70 inches of rain.
The current county record is 8.89 inches, set in 2007. Freestone saw four days of measurable rainfall, with a greatest one-day total of 8.27 inches on July 7. The remainder of the month produced only 0.43 inches.
Freestone’s total rainfall for the year has reached 99.95 percent of normal for the entire year at 42.39 inches. Normal rainfall through July is 24.21 inches. Normal annual rainfall for the county is 42.41 inches. At this point last year, we had received 39.61 inches, or 93 percent of our normal annual rainfall. The year ended only 3.89 inches above normal at 46.30 inches.
The record wet July for Freestone was 8.89 inches in 2007, and the record dry July was in 1997 with just 0.02 inches of rainfall.
July temperatures were about normal, with highs mostly in the low to mid 90s. High temperatures for the month occurred on July 3, 12, and 13, hitting 96 degrees Fahrenheit. Low temperature for the month occurred on July 4, with a temperature of 73 degrees Fahrenheit.
Looking ahead to August, the month is normally the second-hottest of the year in the county, at about one degree cooler than July. However, August produces the hottest day of the year, since temperatures normally peak around the midpoint of summer, which falls on Aug. 6.
For the 10-year period from 1997 to 2006, the average daily high temperature peaked at 98 degrees on Aug. 5 and 6, midsummer on the dot.
August is also normally the county’s second-driest month of the year at 2.43 inches of rain on average. The record wet August was 9.25 inches of rainfall in 2008. The record dry August was 0.00 inches in 2011, and again in 2019. August has been the only calendar month without measurable rainfall over the past 26 years.