El Niño Could Shake Up Minnesota’s Summer Weather Patterns

UNDATED (WJON News) -- Minnesotans are anxious to get outside and enjoy the summer weather.

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The Climate Prediction Center has released its weather outlook for the summer months of June, July, and August.

They say that while much of the country will be baking with much hotter temperatures and normal, the Midwest and Great Lakes region will have pretty average temperatures.

Here in St. Cloud, the average high temperature at the beginning of June is 74 degrees, the high temperature at the beginning of July is 82 degrees, and the high temperature at the beginning of August is also 82 degrees.

The Climate Prediction Center is also forecasting that Minnesota and our surrounding states will be drier than normal this summer.

Here in St. Cloud, we average 4.29 inches of rain in June, 3.44 inches of rain in July, and 3.68 inches of rain in August.

We're going into the summer already behind normal levels of rain.  Since March 1st, St. Cloud has had 5.34 inches of rain, which is 1.14 inches below normal.

This week's update from the U.S. Drought Monitor shows 42 percent of the state is abnormally dry, and eight percent is in a moderate drought.

The Climate Prediction Center says we're likely entering an El Niño pattern this summer, which is expected to continue into the winter months.

Earlier this month, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency released a report indicating that we might be in for a smoky summer.

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