Weather City got nearly twice as much rain as usual and experienced its coolest July since 1992

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APRIL ROBINSON
TELEGRAPH-JOURNAL

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SAINT JOHN - When Kelly Falle woke up to bright, warm sun Saturday morning she had one thought.

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Peter Walsh/Telegraph-Journal

Umbrellas were a necessary fashion accessory for Saint Johners in July as nearly 195 millimetres of rain, nearly twice as much as usual, fell on the city. Margaret Dunbar and Bob Dunbar were prepared for the wet weather as they walked through Rockwood Park on July 22.

Matthew Sherwood/Telegraph-JournalI

If the beginning of August is any indication, this month may bring a lot better weather to the city than July did. Above, a boy runs out of the water at Saints Rest Beach on a sunny Sunday.

"Take advantage of it," she said, watching her children play beside Lily Lake in Rockwood Park.

She put her housework and errands on hold, packed up the kids and hit the beach.

It's been such a crummy summer, she said, she's still waiting for it to begin.

"I bought a tent, and we only set it up in the yard once all summer," she said with a laugh.

It's not just her imagination.

Saint John has had the wettest July on record, says David Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

"You probably think July was a miserable month," he said Sunday. "Well you're totally right."

The city got twice the normal amount of precipitation - close to 195 millimetres. The normal amount for Saint John is 101.5 mm.

Compound that with unusually cool temperatures, and July was "the pits," Phillips said.

"This year was a double whammy. It was the wettest, and also certainly one of the coldest," he said.

The last time we had a cooler July was 1992, with an average temperature of 15.4 C.

This July's average temperature was 15.9 C, about two degrees cooler than normal.

The entire month, the temperature never crept above 25 C.

"You normally would get seven or eight of these days," he said. Compared to other parts of the province, only St. Leonard had more rain in July, at 208 mm. Fredericton got 131 mm and Bathurst had 129 mm.

Bathurst was the only place with cooler temperatures than Saint John. Its temperatures were 1.7 C below normal, compared to Saint John's 1.5 C.

"When you look at your misery factor, it was probably higher in Saint John than other parts of the province," Phillips said.

He said the jet stream has been hanging across the Maritimes, instead of further north, where it usually is this time of year, bringing a lot of cloud, cool weather and a lot of days of rain.

The entire eastern part of Canada - from Ontario to Newfoundland and Labrador - has been receiving air from the north.

"We've been in Canadian air. We need some Obama air and we haven't been getting it."

That means we've had fewer fog days than usual because southerly air makes fog rise off the coast.

So does the fall have better things in store for Saint John?

"The thing is, can it get much worse?" Phillips joked.

The new few days, he predicts temperatures will hover around 19 C, around 4 degrees cooler than normal, with a mix of sun and cloud.

For the rest of August, temperatures across the province will stay near normal, he said.

Then, getting into September and October, Phillips said the weather will get a little warmer and a little dryer.

"But I wouldn't bet my pension on it."