MINOT – The first day of Fall doesn’t arrive until September 23 but, given the temperatures the region has been experiencing for the past several weeks, there may not be much of a change of seasons as one can normally expect.
If you think our summer has been cooler than usual, you are right. The number of uncomfortably hot days, mid-90's or so, have been quite limited even though the first week of June had three days of 90+ temps, including a high of 96 on June 7. Although another 90-degree day never occurred for the remainder of that month, the overall average high temperature was nearly six degrees higher than usual.
Still to come were the “hot” months of July and August. July started out with two days in the 90s, finishing with seven days of such thermometer readings but, overall, wound up nearly two degrees below the long-term average high of 83.8 degrees. Nighttime temperatures were 3.3 degrees below average.
August, the region’s hottest month with a normal high of 84.9 degrees, is well below average so far with daytime highs averaging slightly more than three degrees less at 81.8 degrees.
Precipitation for the year to date, as recorded in Minot, is about 2.5 inches below normal.
The Climate Prediction Center will release its updated three-month weather outlook for the region on Thursday. A warmer than usual winter is projected based on continued development of El Nino conditions over areas of the Pacific Ocean that influence weather patterns.
