Warm weather predicted for Fourth of July across region

IRONWOOD — Monday afternoon’s severe thunderstorms throughout the Gogebic Range caused sporadic power outages, a few downed trees and heavy downpours.

Streets that are under construction in Ironwood flooded around mid-afternoon as the sky turned pitch black and car lights came on amid the deluge. A broken six-inch water line downtown near Lowell Street added water to the rain-flooded streets.

The Ironwood Public Safety Department received a 1:45 p.m. Monday complaint that the area in front of the Fabric Patch store at the Lowell Street-McLeod Avenue intersection was flooded. It quickly formed into a small pond, creating a wild ride for motorists brave enough to tackle two feet of water.

Officers were called for traffic control along the Cloverland Drive construction project during the storm.

The 1.25 inches of rain that fell for the 24-hour period to 7 a.m. Tuesday set a new daily record for the past 110 years, according to the National Weather Service office in Marquette.

It’s been a soggy June.

For the month, Ironwood had received 5.4 inches of rain up to Tuesday morning, compared to the long-term average of 3.66 inches.

The record June rainfall in Ironwood is a whopping 11.32 inches in 1939, while the all-time low was just .10 inch in 1910, according to the weather service.

While it seems like it has been an extremely wet year across the Range, total precipitation in Ironwood for 2015 is 14.97 inches, compared to the long-term average of 14.61 inches.

Better weather is in the forecast, beginning today. It will be mostly sunny through the Fourth of July, although there’s a chance of thunderstorms on Friday.

Temperatures are expected to gradually warm up through the week, reaching a high of 78 on Saturday, which marks Independence Day.