2019 Weather Review

2019 Weather Recap for Olive Branch and DeSoto County
To say that 2019 was a wet year would be an understatement for sure. I recorded 87.17″ of rain during the year which is 33.5″ above the normal of 53.67″. We had 5 months with below normal rainfall totals with 7 months above normal. Three months, February, June, and October each exceeded 10 inches. In February, 12.28″ fell. June saw 10.41″ of rain. October is typically one of our driest months, but this year we saw 15.40″ recorded.
Our rainiest day was on June 7th when I recorded 5.09″, with most of that falling over a 2 hour period, early that morning. On the other extreme in this very wet year, I only recorded 0.11″ of rain in September and we were experiencing a “mini” drought. I recorded some rain on 132 days during 2019.
As far as temperatures go, this year was not abnormal at all. January is typically our coldest month of the year and it was again during 2019, even though we recorded our coldest day and night on November 20th. Our highest temperature of 99 recorded this year occurred on September the 17th. Our lowest temperature during 2019 was 14 on November 20th. We reached 90 or higher on 86 days during 2019 and recorded a low of 32 or less on 48 days. Our high temperature did not reach freezing on only 2 days, once in March and once in November.
The highest wind recorded during 2019 was 45 mph on October the 7th.
If we compare 2019 to 2018 we see numbers that are very similar, with the exception of total rain.
2018 2019
Median High Temp 72.9 73.1
Median Low Temp 53.3 53.2
Highest Temperature 98 99
Lowest Temperature 7 14
Total Rain 75.63″ 87.17″
Highest Wind 33 mph 45 mph
Heating Degree Days 3304 3187
Cooling Degree Days 2354 2271