Let's Go For The Record!

We're 18 days away from the date of the latest 90° day on record at Little Rock. That was established on June 20th, 1910. At this time, June 2nd, I don't see any 90 degree heat over the next 10 days.

What about 100° days? We did not reach 100° in 2019 or 2020. If we don't do it this year, it will be the first time we have had 3 consecutive summers without reaching the century mark since 1948, 49, and 50. Is it possible? It's going to be tough.

One thing for sure, we won't have any early season extreme heat due to the wet ground. The sun's energy will go into evaporation first. Once the ground is dry, the energy goes into strong and efficient heating. It's important to remember, we can dry out quickly and heat up, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Also remember, while the air temperature may not reach 100°, the heat index can easily reach the triple digits with all the moisture in the ground.

Check out the soil moisture anomaly as of June 1st. It's wet in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. That will have to go away for us to reach 100. The west has an ongoing drought and that's where the real heat will be found this month.

The European rainfall anomaly over the next 15 days shows wet conditions thriving over the same area which have received much of the recent rains.

The June outlook now calls for a good chance of below average temperatures and above average rainfall.

As we have been saying, IF we get into extreme heat, it will be mid to late summer. This is different than the horrible summers of 2010, 2011, and 2012. Since those years, summers in Arkansas have been tolerable.