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Month of June marked by thunderstorms, continues moisture trends

By
Troy Thone, Luverne volunteer weather recorder

Severe thunderstorms were certainly at the forefront of June weather for what has been a fairly lackluster severe storm season to this point. 
The first event occurred Friday night/Saturday morning, July 19 and 20,with hail primarily being the issue Friday night and a second set of strong storms bringing very strong winds in the early morning hours on the 20th. 
Up to 1-inch hail was reported just south of Luverne on the 19th, and severe wind gusts of 58 mph were recorded at the Luverne airport the early morning hours of the 20th. 
There were numerous reports of trees and branches down in Luverne and Magnolia and at other areas in the county. 
The second event occurred in the early morning hours on Monday, June 22, with another straight-line wind event. 
The hardest hit was in Garretson, South Dakota, but adjacent areas of Rock County also suffered downed buildings and trees.  Wind estimates of 90-100 mph or greater were reported. 
The Luverne airport reported a wind gust of 63 mph (within severe criteria), from these storms, which had weakened some by the time they arrived in Luverne.
June marks the second straight month of above-normal rainfall with a nearly identical monthly amount to May. 
Total rainfall came in at just a hair above 4 1/2 inches, just over a half inch above normal. 
The above-normal rainfall has been welcome as it has reduced our yearly rainfall deficit to just shy of 2 inches. 
While other locales in Rock County may have received significantly more rain, the total amount at the Luverne airport still shows the deficit — albeit drought conditions overall have improved significantly everywhere.
June temperatures were nearly 2 degrees above normal, which was helped primarily by warmer overnight lows as daytime highs were right at the average.
 
A blog of daily summary and other interesting weather events for the Luverne area is at http://luvernemnweather.blogspot.com. Thone can be reached at tathone@gmail.com.

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