As the month of May comes to a close, so does the meteorological spring season. Thursday, June 1, will be the first day of meteorological summer! The official first day of summer will be June 21, but for record-keeping purposes, the summer season consists of the months of June, July and August.

During a normal summer season in Huntsville, the average temperature is 80.1 degrees. This temperature is the combination of both the high and low temperatures from June through August. Summer-time showers and storms are common during the afternoon and evening which could lead to heavy rain. The normal rainfall for Huntsville is 12.10 inches.

Last year, Huntsville observed a top-five driest and also top-five hottest summer on record. The average temperature of summer 2022 was 81.5 degrees, making it the fourth-warmest on record. The warmest on record occurred in 2010 when the average was 83.5 degrees. Last year, Huntsville observed the fifth-driest summer on record with rainfall totaling 6.15 inches.

Look Ahead To What We Could See This Summer:

When looking ahead to this coming Summer, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) has predicted that El Niño will continue to develop through July. ENSO, or El Niño Southern Oscillation, has two phases, the warm phase, El Niño, and the cold phase, La Niña. When the sea-surface temperatures are rising above average in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, it’s a sign that an El Niño is developing.

El Niño could limit tropical development in Atlantic

The latest update which was released in mid-May, gives it a 90 percent chance of it persisting through January. This pattern favors drier and warmer-than-normal conditions across the Northern Plains and Midwest and wetter and cooler-than-normal conditions across the southern tier of the continental U.S. However, El Niño effects are more prominent in the winter months.

While El Niño typically leads to cooler-than-normal conditions across much of the United States, the CPC temperature outlook for June, July, and August shows a 50-60 percent chance of above-average temperatures. When it comes to rainfall, the CPC has forecast the Tennessee Valley a 40-50 percent chance of above-average rainfall.

Stick with the Weather Authority for the latest as we head into the Summer Season!