Weather as Recorded at the UMass Cranberry Station:
East Wareham
Prepared by Peter Jeranyama
August was a normal month, slightly wet and sunny month. The temperature averaged 70.4 degrees, almost similar to the long-term average. There was no day with a temperature of 90 or above temperature and only 3 days with temperatures above 85 but less than 90 degrees. The maximum temperature of 87 was recorded on the 1st. The minimum temperature of 50 degrees was recorded on the 26th. Daytime high temperatures averaged 79.7 degrees, 1.1degrees above the norm. Evening temperatures averaged 61.1 degrees, 1.3 degrees below the norm. There was only a single night with temperatures of 70 or above and 14 nights with temperatures below 60.
Sunshine totaled 65% of the possible sunshine hours, which is 7 points above the norm. There were 9 days with 90% or greater of possible sunshine, and only one day with no sunshine.
Precipitation totaled 4.7 inches, 0.83 inches above normal. We had measurable precipitation on 5 days, with 4 of those have more than 0.1 inch. More than two-thirds of the rain (3.13") was recorded on the 19th. Year-to-date, 2017 has received 38.72 inches of rain, 6.37 inches above the yearly average for East Wareham. Compared to 2016 at this stage, we have received 6.37 inches more rainfall for the year.
Official Summer Season
The official summer (June, July and August) was average, wet, and sunny. The average temperature was 69.6 degrees, only 0.5 degrees above the 30-year average for the 3-month period. June and July had above average temperature, and August had below average temperature. Total rainfall for the season was 11.73 inches, 0.77 inches above the normal precipitation for this time of year; with June and August seeing above normal rainfall. Sunshine hours totaled 808 hours; this is 65 hours above the average for the three months, all of which were above normal. We had a maximum temperature of 91 degrees recorded on both June 13th and 14th and a minimum temperature of 43 degrees recorded on June 8th. There were 3 days of 90° or more in June and July. We had no official heat wave this season.
Crop Forecast
New England Agricultural Statistics Service released the United States forecast for the 2017 Cranberry crop. Overall production is predicted to be 9.05 million barrels, down 6 percent from 2016. With the exception of Oregon (20 percent) and Washington (3 percent) higher yields than 2016, all of the major growing regions anticipate lower crops than in 2016. The forecast for Massachusetts is for 2.2 million barrels.
