A typical July in the Richmond metro area features highs close to 90° and lows in the upper 60s. It is statistically a wetter month, which is dependent on occasional thunderstorms. Since we are past the summer solstice, we lose 23 minutes of total daylight by month’s end.
The extended computer models suggest the warmer/hotter trend of the first part of the month may be replaced by somewhat cooler temperatures in the middle of the month. Therefore, this may end up to be an average month, with the above normal and below normal temps cancelling each other out. The new July outlook from the National Weather Service follows this thinking:
The rainfall outlook looks to be near or just above normal. Forecasting monthly rainfall amounts in the summer is very difficult, since monthly totals are affected by scattered thunderstorm clusters and possible tropical activity. The pattern as of late has favored higher rain totals closer to I-81, due to the instability near the mountains, and that part of the state is a bit closer to some of the heavier rain activity to our west.
