As we officially reach the halfway point month of the year with June, we officially head into summer and shift from spring climate to a summer climate. Starting off the month of June this past weekend showed June gloom in its prime, seeing some heavy rainfall and stormy weather through to Sunday evening in many parts of Minnesota. Minneapolis reported around 2 inches of rain fall over the weekend with other cities in the state reporting even larger amounts of rain. According to the National Weather Service, some spots had such intense, and unexpected, rain that they saw flooding in their rivers and creeks. So, given this stormy weather, what can we expect from the rest of this summer in Minnesota?

Experts anticipate a less hot summer than in years prior, but still a hot one.

In this modern day in which we heavily are seeing and living through the effects of climate change, it is typical to no longer expect weather to be “normal.” We have lost track of the typical weather patterns, as we consistently have record breaking weather, whether that be record breaking heat, cold, rain, etc. This means that it is difficult to really track and anticipate to what levels we will see the weather reach. However, given the data that experts have to analyze, many are coming forward expressing that the weather is seemingly going to be less hot than the past few years, but still hotter than the old idea of “normal” weather.

Part of why we can expect cooler temperatures than in the past is it looks like it will be rainier than in the past.

Given this past weekend, in which Minnesota witnessed more rain than normally in the introduction to Junee weekend, it is safe to say we are looking at a wetter summer. If we have a wetter summer, that means that temperatures will be lower on average. This could simply mean there are less days with record heat; however, their highs could still be higher than ever before. If Minnesota does turn out to have a wetter summer, this could mark a switch for the state. There has been an ongoing drought that has been hard to curve and a rain heavy, or simply rainier, summer could be just the thing to get the state off on the right foot.