What does month-to-date average mean?

The precise meaning of “Month-to-date average July 2007” would be a calculation based on all measures of some event that took place during only the month of July, finding the sum of those measures, and then dividing this sum by the number of events measured during the month.

For example, the Month-to-date average DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURE July 2007 would be calculated by adding all the daily high temperature readings for an area and dividing the sum by 31.

What may be confusing about this phrase is the MONTH-TO-DATE part while only stating JULY 2007 as the timeframe. Usually, a MONTH-TO-DATE figure is something reported sometime before the end of the month and carries a full date such as of July 10, 2007 or as of July 25, 2007. When a MONTH-TO-DATE calculation encompasses the entire month (as seems to be the case here), it is really just a MONTHLY AVERAGE.

Instead of using the MONTH-TO-DATE AVERAGE JULY 2007, I would rather see MONTHLY AVERAGE JULY 2007 Or, I would use a more specific date MONTH-TO-DATE AVERAGE JULY, 31 2007.

Given the confusion of the date used with the MONTH-TO-DATE title, it is also possible some other monthly average involving more time periods is intended. It might be an average based on activity from the beginning of the year through July 2007. If this is the case, the title is wrong and should be YEAR-TO-DATE JULY 2007. The YEAR-TO-DATE designation with a JULY 2007 timeframe is a more appropriate combination of title and date fomats.