TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Although Tampa saw nearly a foot of rainfall in the month of July, it wasn’t quite that wet everywhere else in the bay area. So if you thought July was actually drier for you, you may not be wrong!

When looking at the entire region for July specifically, our coastal counties saw a lot of rain – with many seeing three or more inches above average. There were a few spots, like in northern Hillsborough County and coastal Manatee and Sarasota, that were drier than normal.

Polk and Highlands counties, as well as sections of Hardee and Desoto counties and inland Manatee County, were all much drier than normal. Those areas saw rainfall deficits of one to even four and five inches of rain when compared to average.

Tampa’s official recording site for all recorded weather is at the Tampa International Airport – one particular sensor, so it is hard to represent the entire area. These records date back to 1890, the longest-kept records in the area.

It isn’t a good representation of the entire area. There are, however, two other official recording sites in Lakeland and at the Sarasota airport but even those two specific points don’t cover all 11 counties in our region.