After a cool July, welcome to summer

Only in Houston could a month with an average temperature of 90 degrees be considered refreshingly cool — but that's what July was, according to KHOU. Our average July temp of 90 was four degrees cooler that the normal July average, and the hottest temperature recorded last month was 96 — short of the near-100s we'll probably see later in the summer. The persistent rain was part of the reason for the low temperatures, but in general, July is a fairly cool month compared with the rest of the summer, Channel 11 meteorologist Neil Frank said: Since 1963, there have been 27 summers in which the temperature hasn't reached 100 in July. "So it's a more common occurrence not to have 98 to 100-degree temperatures in the month of July," Frank said.

Not to say that July can't be hot: During a heat wave in 1980, temperatures reached 100 or more during 18 days in July, and in 1998, things were that hot again for 14 days in July, and in 2000, there were 10 days with 100-plus temperatures during the month. So at least we've managed to avoid all that.

So far, August has been a little above average most days: The high temperature, 97 — three degrees above average — was recorded yesterday (and that was still less than the record of 101 for Aug. 6). The good news: We only have 10 more weeks or so of hot weather. Wait, that's good news?

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Photo: flickr user mamabrarian