DAYTON — Blame August if you’ve got a sunburned lawn.

Meteorologists recorded 1.73 inches of rain for the Dayton area last month, well below the August average of 3.1 inches.

Only 24 other Augusts since 1893 have been drier, according to National Weather Service records.

The driest August: 1996 when .03 inches fell. That’s basically a brief drizzle.

“We’re at about half of what we should have,” said Myron Padgett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

Year to date, Padgett said, Dayton rainfall is about 3 inches below normal with 24.52 inches.

“We weren’t really doing that badly until August and the later part of July,” Padgett said.

The bad news, he said, is that we’re heading into autumn — the driest part of the year.

“You have less frequent rains, unless you get some moisture from a tropical storm,” Padgett said. “But that’s not every year, and you can’t count on them.”

We’ll get some scattered showers Thursday night, said WHIO-TV meteorologist Jamie Simpson, “but not enough to really help.”

“We’ll get probably a half inch or less at most,” Simpson said. “And some places may get nothing.”

Long-term forecasts don’t look very encouraging either, with predictions of below-average rainfall and above-average temperatures, Simpson said.

But we’re not in a drought situation, he said.

“That’s a very long-term thing,” Simpson said.

“June was quite wet, and that’s what’s really saving us now.”

Still, he said, the lawns are suffering.

“The moisture that’s in the top of the soil is very low because it’s been so dry, and that’s why the lawns look so bad.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2393 or kmccall@DaytonDailyNews.com.