Climatologist Calls Last Week’s Rain, A Million Dollar Rain

Area climate experts say local rainfall last week, paired with unusual temperature fluctuations, helped avert what could have been severe impacts from last week’s heat wave. Overall, summer conditions in the area have been both hotter and drier than normal, which follows national and worldwide trends. In a report, Emergency management and agriculture officials had begun to grow concerned with the heat wave and dry spell that had plagued the tri-state area for months throughout late spring and early summer. But, Assistant Wisconsin State Climatologist Edward Hopkins says the recent rain helped things, at least for a while. According to the National Weather Service,  rain that fell Friday and Saturday dropped between 1.9 and 2.5 inches on Dubuque County and surrounding areas. Hopkins called it a million dollar rain.