Meteorological summer goes in wet and cool; warmer air expected to return for fall
The end of August and the start of September also brought an end to meteorological summer and a beginning to meteorological fall. The summer months of June, July and August started off warm with both June and July coming in slightly above average on temps, but after a warm start to August the cooler air took over and the average temperature over the three months came in below average compared to the 30-year average but still tied for the 32nd warmest on record. The hottest summer temps was 94 degrees and we hit that four times on back-to-back-to-back days in June and again on August 9th. The coldest temp was June 1st for the first day of meteorological summer when we dropped to 43.
We stated to see the rain chances really ramp up over the summer months. The flooding rain in the middle of August pushed the rain total to near 9" which is over 5" above average. July was also above average on rain after a drier June. July and August are the first back-to-back months with above average precipitation this year. So far, we are sitting almost 4" above average on precip for the year and it's currently the 16th wettest start to the year on record.
The total summer rainfall for June, July and August was 16.25" which is almost 5" above average and much wetter than last summer. It officially goes down as the 7th wettest meteorological summer on record.
Now that summer is in the record books, meteorological fall which consists of September, October and November, looks to be a bit warmer. The Climate Prediction Center outlook has most of the country expecting above average temps during the fall months with a 30-40% chance for above average temps across the state of Wisconsin.
Are expected warm fall comes as we are seeing more and more above average fall days over the last 50 years. When compared data from the 1970s we are seeing an increase of about 22 more days above average in the last few years compared to 50 years ago.
Download the CBS 58 Weather app to track the temps for the fall months.