June has started off on a mild and sunnier-than-normal note, with high temperatures soaring into the low 70s. It felt even warmer due to the fact we’ve been sitting a good 10 to 15 degrees below or seasonal average.
The first day of summer officially starts on Friday, June 21st, but meteorologists…ahem…don’t really care about the sun’s position and what solstice is what or what equinox is what. Maybe it’s because I already have a bias, but the meteorological understanding of seasons just makes a little more sense, hence the “logical” part of the word 😉
Meteorologists define seasons more by temperature and weather. Warm–or even downright hot–weather occurs before the first official day of summer every year. Our nation begins to experience its warmest temperatures by late May/early June, so to make it easy, meteorologists dubbed meteorological summer as June 1st.
September 1st is meteorological autumn (fall), as temperatures overall begin to take a downward trend and may northern states experience their first frosts.
December 1st is meteorological winter, as temperatures and weather have long expressed their snowy and cold attitudes by then.
March 1st is meteorological spring, because by this point most temperatures begin trending upward.
This makes it easy for all of us. You don’t need to check the calendar as often to know which season it is! But I suppose for the sake of most of the world, we’ll keep things the way they are 🙂 For more information on these seasonal variations, click here.
You’ll be glad to know that even though the first official day of summer isn’t for another few weeks, Mother Nature will play along with the notion it actually started today. Therefore, expect morning clouds Sunday and Monday with clearing skies and high temperatures in the low to mid 70s.
We warm even more for Tuesday and Wednesday as a ridge of high pressure continues to build offshore. This will fling temperatures into the mid to upper 70s…maybe even–dare I say it–80 degrees!
We cool off a little by the end of next week, but the ridge rebuilds by next weekend bringing more sunshine and mild temperatures along with it. Yay for meteorological summer! 🙂
Have a fantastic weekend,
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
Questions? Comments? Photos? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com
It’s strange to me now that I’ve lived here for 14 years that I seem to have become acclimated to the cooler weather. 71 degrees through 79 degrees sound uncomfortable, and 80 degrees or more sounds so brutal! On the east coast 75 degrees would have been pleasant! I’m dreading summer, no matter when it starts.
I know what you mean! We don’t seem to handle anything about 75 very well around here 🙂 In fact, a lot of us get sun burnt! It looks like we’re in for a pretty warm summer, so I hope you have plans to cool off!