A tale of 2 cities: July rainfall patchy across P.E.I.

Depending on where you were standing, July on P.E.I. had close to normal rain or very little rain, but the ground you're standing on is likely very dry in any case.

"Rainfall in the summer tends to be more localized and spotty as convective showers or thunderstorms make up a larger portion of the monthly rainfall in the summer," said CBC meteorologist Brennan Allen.

This pattern was particularly strong on P.E.I. in July.

• Warm seawater fed Friday thunderstorms

At Charlottetown Airport 68.8 mm of rain was measured in July, 87 per cent of the norm, while in Summerside there was only 25.6 mm.

That's because more than 90 per cent of Charlottetown's rain fell in just two days.

• July 2: 17.6 mm.
• July 21: 45.2 mm.

Summerside missed the July 2 event, with less than a millimetre of rain, and largely missed the July 21 storms, receiving only 18.9 mm of rain.

But even in the Charlottetown area, because of the way the rain fell, Allen describes the month as very dry.

"A lot of the water will run off into rivers, lakes and the ocean before the ground has a chance to absorb it," said Allen.

"Even though the rainfall is near normal, the ground/soil conditions don't reflect that."

The pattern was similar in June at Charlottetown Airport, with rainfall a little below normal but close to 70 per cent of that rain falling on two days.

• P.E.I. June warmer, drier than average

The long-range forecast, said Allen, suggests August will be dry as well.

The average daily high at Charlottetown Airport in July was 23.6 C, a little above the average 23.3 C.

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