July continues to be slightly warmer than normal with only a few days left in the month. The average temperature in the last week was 22.0 degrees Celsius, down from 22.9 C the week before but still above the average for the month of 21.1 C. There have been eight days with a daytime high over 30 C so far in July.
In lockstep with the above average temperature, the corn heat unit (CHU) count continued to accumulate nicely, with 655 CHU for the first 25 days of the month; the normal for July is 799 CHU so July is running slightly above normal. The total CHUs since the start on May 16 has now reached 1705 CHU, approximately 55 per cent of normal.
There were only 5 millimetres of rain in the last week, bringing the month total to 38 mm which is about half of normal. Despite the lack of rain, the crops are looking good with the warm temperatures as they feed off the leftover moisture from June. Strawberries are done, while blueberries and sweet corn have arrived on the market in abundance. The harvesting of winter wheat has started in earnest in fields across the Valley.
The forecast for the remainder of July is for average temperatures, but precipitation will be limited to showers and thundershowers.