First post in almost 3.5 weeks!  June started out pleasant enough with seasonable temps and two successive unusually early rain events brought on by decaying tropical cyclones.  Very rare to get one, let alone two, of these events this early in the summer.  There were some spectacular thunderstorms that rolled through the Wasatch Front.  I was lucky enough to capture some images last Monday as a particularly electric storm moved over the Salt Lake Valley:

 

Unfortunately, since then we've dried out and warmed up.  In fact we've been well above normal for the past week and we are only forecasted to get warmer through the end of June with 100+ temps likely for most valley locations over the coming week.

Any relief in the future?  Temps should cool just a bit back down into the mid to upper 90s later next week.  Moisture will increase just a touch so some mainly high elevation thunderstorms will be possible.  As we enter July, the hope is that the high pressure is suppressed and pushed a bit farther east, allowing an increase in moisture.  Whether that happens or not is still far from certain.  These are the dog days, we'll just have to get through it.  Get your outdoor recreation in early in the morning or late in the evening while it's somewhat cool!

As for El Nino, it continues to strengthen and forecasts still have it in a moderately strong state this Fall.  I've been paying attention to the winter weather down in Chile.  Chile is very similar to California in terms of climate and sees similar effects from El Nino.  Unfortunately, Chile has also been in a severe drought for the last several years just like California.  The hope has been that El Nino will help with the drought down there.  So far, it has remained dry, but we are heading into the meat of the Southern Hemispheric winter and it will be interesting to see what happens.

Important to remember that El Nino does not mean we are destined for a good winter here in the Wasatch.  The southwest is favored, the northwest is usually drier than normal.  Utah is in between and has seen both below and above normal winters in past El Nino winters.  As stated before, it would be nice if we had a repeat of the 82-83 record winter (also an El Nino), but it's unlikely that will occur.  For now, we can only watch, wait, and speculate.

I'll update again when I see more concrete relief in sight from the heat!

Evan | OpenSnow