Many people might be surprised that the wettest month of the year in Norfolk, Virginia is July, with August being a close second place. It may seem like one of the winter months is wetter since we do have plenty of damp, dreary, cloudy days during the cooler months of the year. However, it's the summer storms that drop the most rain. A thunderstorm can easily drop several inches of rain in a very short period. During the winter, the precipitation is mostly light to moderate in nature. The other significant factor is tropical cyclones and their remnants. Hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th. The heavy rainfall associated with those systems increases the overall averages during the summer. Even if we don't get hit directly from a tropical cyclone or its remnants, the moisture that sometimes is brought into our region from a tropical cyclone enhances rainfall amounts under certain weather conditions. It's the overall weather pattern during the summer months that brings in copious amounts of moisture from the tropical Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea. The Bermuda High is largely responsible for pumping in this moisture. In July, we average over four and a half inches of rain. November and December are our driest months here in the Hampton Roads area as they average less than three inches of precipitation.
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