Meteorological Summer Begins

Today is the first of June and the start to our Meteorological summer! After a chilly weekend, I'm sure many are looking forward to more summer-like days ahead. But, in the short run, temps will still run slightly below average. At least we've got plenty of sunshine to enjoy this week with a quiet weather pattern settling in. So let's start by taking a look at our June statistics for Milwaukee:

As you can see, June is still a big transition month in terms of the average temperatures, going up about ten degrees on both the highs and the overnight lows. And the extremes are still rather impressive as reflected in today's almanac. Freezing or triple-digit heat, which would you rather have?!

Okay, now that we've soaked in the monthly stats and the almanac extremes, what can we expect moving forward?  Yesterday, the National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center put out their monthly trends and has us in a thirty-three percent probability of experiencing a warmer than normal June. Here's a peek at who's looking to get in on the heat this month and where spots may fair cooler than normal:

While the first two days of the month will feature below normal temps with highs in the sixties and lows in the forties, by Wednesday we should be back to normal with highs in the seventies and lows in the fifties. Those normal type temps look to stick through the rest of our ten day forecast.

In terms of rain, well again just a reminder that about four inches of rainfall is normal through the month. Overall, the latest outlook has us looking slightly below average in terms of rain across eastern Wisconsin.  One simple solution there is that we may see a handful of days with a set-up like this:

That's our fair weather friend \"High Pressure\". High pressure systems bring us sinking air which generally leads to a warm and dry day, or fair weather conditions. But there's a few exceptions, especially as we move through spring and early summer. During that period while lake Michigan is still very chilly, the clock-wise flow around high pressure systems bring lake cooled air and also an aided drying effect across our area. So while we have a set up like you see above, it's a good bet that you'll hear the words \"Cooler by the lake\" and \"Lake breeze\". Additionally, often times as weather systems approach from the west, they fall apart as they get closer to the dry and cool lake breeze.  This set-up may be a larger weather player this month. Gradually the cooler by the lake eases this month as we near our longest days of the year and the strong sun gives us plenty of warmth through the month.  June also brings one of our most active months in terms of severe weather. So even though we're looking at potentially less rain than normal, you can bet there will still be stormy days. And we'll be here tracking it all for you! 

As a friendly reminder, you can always download our CBS58 First Alert Weather App. It's free and available for your Apple or Android devices. It's got all the tools you need to get the latest weather conditions and forecast any time you need it, day or night.

I'm meteorologist Rebecca Schuld