Weather Trends - Aguust

-- Casual Living, 10/10/2006 5:45:00 AM

A Cooler August A YEAR AGO, August ranked as the 21st hottest and 13th wettest nationally based on 111 years of records. Retail sales benefited from exceptional demand for warm weather categories but early back-to-school and fall categories got off to a slow start. Although Hurricane Katrina made landfall on Aug. 29, it fell in the retail calendar for September and did not impact August sales results. The tropical season will again pick up in August after a quiet July. The Middle Atlantic to Northeast corridor remains a high risk region for landfall of a tropical system as does Texas to Mississippi.

Cooler temperatures this August will negatively impact hot summer categories, such as pool supplies, with possible double digit sales declines. Patio furniture may actually benefit with more pleasant (normal) weather for outdoor activities and entertaining.

It will remain wet in the Northeast and Great Lakes, which could dampen demand in these regions requiring steeper markdowns to clear any excess inventory. The West is also wetter, but that amounts to very little rainfall as this is not a wet time of year for the West Coast.

The warmest areas of the country will be from Texas to the northern Plains, which represent the best region for hot summer categories.

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jgrum@survdata.com
www.wxtrends.com
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