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This summer has brought us record heat on July 15 of 99 degrees for the high in Greensboro at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. SUMMER 2024 We have had three heat waves from the end of June through the end of August with drought conditions that were nearly wiped out even before Tropical Storm Debby arrived in North Carolina.JUNEThe beginning of June started with highs in the 70s and comfortable conditions and a few days of light rainfall. By the end of the month, hot and dry conditions began with our first round of 90s for 2024. We reached a high of 97 degrees in Winston-Salem on June 26. as the hottest day in two years and hottest day for 2024 as of August 31, 2024. Parts of the Piedmont Triad went into abnormally dry conditions as drought concerns worsened. We ended the month with more than three inches below normal rainfall totals.JULYJuly started out strong by turning up the heat! We had 13 days of 90 degrees or more prompting a Heat Advisory for parts of the Piedmont Triad. A few scattered storms developed before many of the Fourth of July festivites got underway. You can checkout our ulocal North Carolina Facebook Group members’ photos in this summer slidewhow for the month of July.Early July also brought the first hurricane of the season and a landfall in the United States along the Gulf of Mexico. Beryl missed making landfall in Jamaica, but it came dangerously close and brought major damage to the island’s west coast. On its path through the Caribbean, Beryl became a major hurricane and reached Category Four Hurricane status.With light and sporadic rainfall, hot temperatures, and plenty of sunshine, most of North Carolina was thrust into a drought. By the middle of the month, we also reached our hottest day of 2024 at 99 degrees as recorded at the Piedmont Triad International Airport. [/twitter]Here’a look at the July 18 drought map showing severe drought for parts of the Foothills.As Meteorologist Brian Slocum reported, July 2024 was the wettest July in 40 years. PTI Airport received more than a foot of rain from mid-July to mid-August, about three times our normal rainfall over that period. The rain has helped ease the impact of the very hot and dry period in late June through mid-July. For more on the mid-summer drought, check out Meteorologist Brian Slocum’s Drought Story.By the end of July, we were monitoring the tropics for what would become Hurricane Debby.AUGUSTIn the first few days of August, rainfall returned with steamy 90s through August 3rd. [/twitter]Take a look at our ulocal North Carolina Facebook Group in our August slideshow. Tropical Storm Debby was on the way to bringing major impacts to North Carolina and the Piedmont Triad on the morning of August 8. By late afternoon August 8, Tropical Storm Debby made a beeline for the Piedmont Triad and was downgraded to a Tropical Depression by 5 p.m. Tornado Warnings were issued for the Northern Piedmont as Debby’s damaging wind gusts and rotating storms lifted through the Triad.Debby brought damaging winds with deadly consequences. A severe thunderstorm embedded in Debby’s tropical bands caused the death of 78-year-old Hilda Jones of Browns Summit on the night of August 8. She was seeking shelter in her Rockingham County mobile home in Southeastern Rockingham County. From the first mainland landfall in Floida through the tropical storm impact in North Carolina, there were 8 reported deaths due to Debby.For more on damage and flooding, here is our slideshow from Debby’s path through the Piedmont Triad. Tropical Storm Debby dropped beneficial rainfall across the Piedmont Triad from Burlington to Boone. Just one day after Debby became a depression, lingering tropical moisture brought intense flooding to the Piedmont Triad along a stalled frontal boundary. Later that night, after I posted those storm cloud photos, a Flash Flood Emergency was issued for Guilford County. Three to Five inches fell in less than 40 minutes in some areas of western Greensboro and Guilford County causing at least a dozen water rescues and damaging property as cars across the city became flooded.After the storm passed, Brian Slocum reminded us to look up for the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower.On August 12, Laura Wilmoth captured the Northern Lights in Laurel Springs, North Carolina during the early morning hours.Chief Meteorologist Lanie shared more about Ernesto forming in the Atlantic Ocean- a tropical system we had been monitoring for more than a week for chances of development.Another heat wave brought more hot 90s and high heat indices by the final weeks of August along with a pleasant surprise of Hurricane Lilies blooming at Reynolda House Museum of American Art.