Cool July temperatures will persist in Columbia through beginning of August

COLUMBIA — July’s extraordinarily low temperatures have not only tied records but have also caused this month to be one of the coldest Julys in 121 years of record keeping. Columbia is now at a monthly average of 72.4 degrees, almost 5 degrees below normal average temperatures for July.

Pat Guinan, University of Missouri Extension climatologist, said in a news release that Columbia has had only one 90-degree day for the month — on July 11. There have been two days with low temperatures of 56 degrees.

“Even with a few warmer days ahead, we’ll likely record one of the 10 coolest Julys on record,” Guinan said.

Columbia is experiencing a northwesterly airflow pattern that brings cool temperatures from Canada, Guinan said. Cool and dry air is occasionally broken by wet periods over the Midwest, he said.

Mark O’Malley, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Kansas City, said it is not abnormal to see a fleeting cool-weather front from the north in the summer. It is unusual, however, to see the cooler air persist for so long.

“We’ve had numerous cold fronts go through, and by the time we start warming up again, another one comes in and drops temperatures again,” O’Malley said.

The cooler temperatures will last through the end of July and most likely the beginning of August, too, O'Malley said. However, the weeks after that are harder to predict.

“Certainly in the beginning of August we’ll start off with near average and somewhat below average temperatures,” O’Malley said. “But it’s a little more uncertain whether we’ll then start to warm up and see summer heat.”