(Radio Iowa) – August ended with an above-normal run of hot weather, but State Climatologist Justin Glisan says the average temperatures for the month lines up with past records. “About 71 degrees again, that’s the overnight low plus the daytime high, divide by two gives us a good climatological trend to look at if we’re above or below average,” Glisan says. “That’s right near normal across the state.”

Glisan says the rainfall for August was a different story, as it was down. “A little drier than normal if you look at precipitation across the state,” he says, “and particularly you look at north-central Iowa, getting over into western Iowa, where we had higher precipitation deficits Overall, about an inch below normal, at three-point-two (3.2) inches.”

The temperatures for June, July and August averaged out to 72 degrees.  “And that’s what we expect for summertime behavior. And actually, we were wetter than normal across the state as well, about 14 inches of rainfall, and that’s about a half inch above normal,” Glissan says. “Now there were pockets in western Iowa where we saw precipitation deficits 50 to 75 percent of normal. And then, of course, the June in mid June, a flooding event in northwestern and north-central Iowa with epic amount of rainfall and flooding.”

The early forecast for the fall doesn’t see the cool temperatures staying around. Glissan says that all depends on how the La Nina develops. “Those outlooks that they are trending warmer for September, October, November, and then a slight signal for drier than normal conditions across southwestern Iowa. But again, we’ll have to see if this La Nina develops, because that is the dominant climate driver as we move into fall and even into wintertime as well,” he says.

The meteorological autumn started Sunday.