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La Crosse registered its hottest day to date in 2008 on Tuesday — the first day of school — when the temperature topped out at 93 degrees.

Combined with Monday’s high of 91, it was the first consecutive 90-plus day this summer, bringing the number of days at 90 or above this year to five.

While La Crosse’s normal high for Sept. 2 is only 78, it’s not unusual to hit 90, according to the National Weather Service office in La Crosse. In a typical year, La Crosse has three days of 90 or better temperatures in September.

What is unusual is having only three 90-plus days in June, July and August, compared with 16 in a normal summer.

Of course it’s not the heat but the aridity that make the latter part of this summer stand out.

While the meteorological summer — June, July and August — was one of the wettest on record, that mostly was the result of record rainfall in June.

La Crosse received only 0.69 inches of rain in August, the third-driest August on record.

“Once it stopped raining, it stopped raining,” said Stu Ireland, a meteorologist at the La Crosse office.

That’s been bad news for farmers. Dry conditions have stressed crops, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture said rain desperately is needed.

They likely are out of luck this week.

A cool front moved through Tuesday evening, bringing back normal temperatures, but no rain. Remnants of Hurricane Gustav could bring some moisture later in the week, but that’s likely to affect the eastern part of the state, Ireland said. The chance of rain for La Crosse is only about 30 percent.

Although the months of June, July and August were cooler than usual, they were nowhere close to a record. Overall, the summer was 1 degree below the norm, and came in as the 58th coldest on record, according to the National Weather Service.