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Weathercatch: Heat comes early again this summer

By Nic Loyd and Linda Weiford Washington State University

There’s a saying around the Pacific Northwest that summer doesn’t really start until after the Fourth of July.

Having just emerged from a snippet of record-breaking heat in early June, this doesn’t seem to ring true, does it? Nor did it ring true last summer, when, by the end of June, two major heatwaves had already descended upon us.

Many may be wondering if this summer is going to be like last. Remember the seemingly relentless heat, the governor’s drought emergency and the largest number of wildfires in the state’s history?

While the forecast for summer 2016 calls for above-average heat, the good news is it shouldn’t be as consistently hot as what we experienced last year. After Monday’s remarkable 96-degree high, the forecast for Friday and Saturday calls for showers with highs in the mid-60s. That’s a big temperature drop.

Which isn’t to say you won’t want to keep a box fan handy or a half-gallon of ice cream stored in your freezer. According to the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, above-average warmth will dominate much of the U.S. The hottest temperatures, compared to summertime averages, will extend from Alaska down the West Coast region and into parts of the Southwest.

Though the “monster ridge” of high pressure parked over the West Coast was a big driver of last summer’s scorcher, that’s not the case this year as it weakens. However, we will feel its lingering effects.

Numerous days in the triple-digits helped make 2015 the hottest year in Washington’s recorded history, a record that probably won’t be broken in 2016, thanks to the dissipating monster ridge and a changing global atmospheric circulation pattern.

Even so, generally speaking, June to August will be untypically warm. So the next time someone tells you that summer doesn’t begin until after July 4, you might point out that summery weather came on strong early in June for two years in a row. In fact, the thermometer hit 96 on June 8 of last year and on June 6 this year. That’s 25 degrees above normal.

Then politely ask for a bowl of ice cream.

Nic Loyd is a meteorologist with WSU’s AgWeatherNet. Linda Weiford is a WSU newswriter and weather geek. Contact: linda.weiford@wsu.edu.