Overall, the primary summer months of June, July and August averaged 71.6 degrees, 3 degrees below the norm.

WARMER SUMMER? NOT NECESSARILY

Don't get your hopes up. A cooler-than-normal summer does not mean a warmer-than-usual winter. Nor does it mean that annual colorful display of fall leaves will come any sooner. The 2005 Old Farmer's Almanac, which has been in the business of weather forecasting for 213 years, doesn't have a lot of good news for residents of the Ohio River Valley. The almanac, which claims an accuracy rate of about 80 percent for its long-range weather predictions, says this part of the country can expect "harsh, much-colder than normal temperatures.'' So, too, can most of the southeast United States, the deep South and Texas-Oklahoma. And, if colder temperatures were not bad enough, the Almanac predicts heavier than normal snowfall from the Great Lakes east through New England, including this region. Bill Schultz, a fall color expert with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' Division of Forestry, said that some trees in northern Ohio turned red ahead of schedule because of the cool, late-summer weather. The majority of the state's trees, however, will start turning Oct. 1. Northern Ohio trees will turn first, followed by central Ohio in mid-October and southern Ohio in late October. Beginning Sept. 30, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will offer a weekly fall color forecast on the agency's travel and tourism hot line at (800) BUCKEYE and at www.ohiodnr.com. --Howard Wilkinson

Those lower-than-normal temperatures allowed Greater Cincinnatito avoid issuing any smog alerts for the first time since 1992.

Last year the region had two smog alerts lasting five days. Two years ago, 10 alerts were issued.

Smog is a lung irritant that can trigger asthma attacks. It is formed when air pollution bakes in extreme heat.

Cory Chadwick is director of the Hamilton County Department of Environmental Services, which monitors the air quality and issues the smog alerts. He said it is extremely unusual for Cincinnati's air to receive a clean bill of health for an entire summer.

"I can't remember the last time we didn't have a smog alert," Chadwick said.

Steve Hrebenach, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, said 3 degrees below normal is an impressive figure. The last time the region was cooler was 1992, when the average summer temperature was 70.4 degrees.

"It's fairly significant in the historical record because we're looking at the average temperature over three months of time, so all the peaks and valleys get smoothed out," he said.

The National Weather Service began keeping temperature records in 1835.

Consider:

• June averaged 71.0 degrees, 1 degree below normal and 28th coolest on record.

• July averaged 73.3 degrees, 3 degrees below normal and 12th coolest.

• August averaged a brisk 70.6 degrees, 3.9 degrees below normal and 19th coolest.

Brittion Garland of Hyde Park tosses a flying disc with his friend as they enjoy an unseasonably warm and sunny mid-September day at Freedom's Voice Reserve in West Chester Monday afternoon. (Enquirer photo/GLENN HARTONG)

Cincinnati's cool summer is consistent with the rest of the country. The contiguous United States this year experienced its 16th coolest summer (also June through August) and seventh-coolest August, according to scientists at the NOAA Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

The National Weather Service considers June, July and August as the primary summer months. To date, September has been slightly warmer than normal, averaging 71.5 degrees - about 1 degree higher than the norm.

The cooler temperatures were a mixed bag for gardeners. It helped many plant species have breakout years, such as perennials like black-eyed Susans. But some vegetables, including tomato plants, suffered.

Jennifer Radcliffe, retail manager for Greenfield Plant Farm in Maineville and Anderson Township, said two factors affected her business more than the cool temperatures - cicadas and the wet spring.

Billions of periodical cicadas emerged from the ground this summer around Greater Cincinnati. The infestation scared off some landscapers because the bugs lay eggs in soft branches and can kill young trees.

In addition, Radcliffe said, spring rains led many gardeners to avoid planting.

"The industry is down because of the hysteria created over the bugs," Radcliffe said.

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E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com