With August almost done, the average temperature has been gradually cooling such that the month will be right on normal by the end. The overall temperature dropped another half a degree during the last full week, while precipitation continued unabated, as many and varied thunderstorms continued to dump heavy rainfall on a very localized basis.
Rainfall for the first four weeks of the month totalled 122 millimetres at the farm in Ormstown, which is close to 50 per cent above normal. Combined with the last three days of July, the Valley has received at least 190 mm of precipitation in the last month – which is two months’ worth!
Temperatures have continued to be warm but the air in the last week has been less humid. The average temperature for four weeks in August is 20.4 degrees Celsius, down from 20.9 C the week before, but still above the normal for the entire month of 20.2 C.
In lockstep with the above-average temperature, the corn heat unit (CHU) count continued to climb with 726 CHU for the first 29 days of the month. Compared to the prorated calculation of 718 CHU, the month is well on its way to reaching the normal for August of 768 CHU. The total so far for the season (since May 16) is now 2559 CHU, which will bring us close to the ten-year average of 3,335 CHU by the time September and October are done.
To clarify, the reference to “72 per cent of normal” in last week’s report was intended to indicate what percentage of the total seasonal CHU had been achieved to date, rather than indicating a deficit in normal CHU.
September will start off wet with rain and showers forecast through to Labour Day and then open out to a drier period with average temperatures for the rest of the month. Despite a very wet June and August, the rainfall amount for the first eight months of 2026 has been … average!