‘Scorching’ Summer Ahead For Arizona: Farmers’ Almanac

ARIZONA — Summer is always sizzling in Arizona, but the Farmers’ Almanac summer forecast prediction is calling for what it called a "scorching" season across the Southwest.

While many Arizonans already avoid the outdoors during the summer — at least during daylight hours — because of triple-digit temperatures, other areas of the U.S. that locals regularly escape to during the summer months might also be uncomfortably warm.

The Farmer's Almanac used both the words "broiling" and "blistering" to describe its predictions for summer across the U.S.

Even though the Phoenix metro area is expected to near 100 degrees later this week, summer doesn't officially start until the summer solstice on June 21.

Drought conditions are expected to persist in the Southwest this summer, where even the monsoon rains aren’t expected to deliver any drought relief. The Pacific states will be unusually dry as well, according to the almanac.

According to the forecast, the dog days of summer in late July are expected to be “brutally hot,” with highs in the 90s and triple digits, and “blistering hot” temperatures are expected to persist over Central and Western states.

The worst of the heat should be over by mid-August, though, the almanac said.

While Arizona is expected to remain dry, storminess will mark the transition from spring to summer for other areas of the country, especially along the Eastern Seaboard and the Great Lakes regions, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

Summer will be “a hot one nationwide,” the Farmers’ Almanac said. The closest thing to a mild summer will be in New England and the Great Lakes region, but that prediction is based on a wave of cool air arriving in September, according to the Farmers’ Almanac.

Rainfall is expected to be about normal in the middle of the country, including in the Great Lakes and north and south-central United States; above normal in the Southeast; and below normal in the Northeast.