National Weather Service Releases Summer Outlook For Duluth

Well, it only took until May to officially feel like spring in the Twin Ports. The great news is that spring is here but summer isn't too far off!

The Old Farmer's Almanac recently released their forecast for our region in May and it includes a hot month ahead with thunderstorms throughout. They also forecast an average temperature about ten degrees above normal! Hot indeed.

This differs from the National Weather Service. The Duluth office recently shared their outlook for the month of May and they are calling it another "chilly" month. Of course we aren't looking at bone-chilling cold but it looks like temperatures will fall below average.

I hope the Old Farmer's Almanac is right about this one because it would be nice to see warmer-than-average temperatures after the long winter we've had but the National Weather Service of Duluth never misses. Sigh.

Get our free mobile app

There is something to look forward to though: summer! It won't be too long until the warm season finally arrives in Duluth. We definitely deserve a nice, warm and long summer after everything we've been through with the weather this year!

It looks like we are going to get just that. The National Weather Service office in the Twin Cities recently shared an outlook about June through August across the country, including in our region.

According to the report they shared, put out by the Climate Prediction Center, there's a pretty good chance we could see "hotter and drier than normal conditions" come summertime.

In terms of temperatures this summer season, it looks like Northern Minnesota and most of Wisconsin have a pretty moderate to good chance of seeing warmer-than-average temperatures.

The only bad news to come with this outlook is related to drought. The Climate Prediction Center says it is likely we will fall back into drought in spots across the country. A closer look at the precipitation outlook shows we won't be seeing as much rain as usual.

Let's hope things don't become as damaging as they were last year. All across the state, there were severe to extreme drought conditions. Precipitation in recent months has certainly helped conditions but it looks like things could become very dry again this summer.

Like I said, we deserve some good news after this long winter! If you want to put our gloomy April into perspective, the last Wednesday of the month was the first dry Wednesday in six weeks.

Another thing that puts our long winter into perspective? There is always at least one spot in the midwest that is getting hammered with a massive snowstorm at any given time. We are never alone! This Bismarck snowstorm is a good example of that.