Warmest open to June in five years; Dry conditions to continue

by: Brian Wilkes - Chief Meteorologist

Posted: Jun 1, 2023 / 07:03 PM EDT

Updated: Jun 1, 2023 / 10:16 PM EDT

June first is the first day of meteorological summer and already mid-summer heat is taking hold. The recent dry spell will aid in even higher temperatures this weekend.

DRYING OUT

If you were fortunate enough to get under a downpour any of the past few days consider yourself lucky. The isolated showers and storms will no longer be afforded as humidity level lower heading into the weekend. The dry conditions, as expected, have worsened as we have had little to no rainfall in many locations in 12 days. The update Thursday from the Drought Center reports that now nearly 75% of the state of Indiana is deemed ‘abnormally dry’, up from 10% one week ago. In nearby Illinois drought conditions have developed and expanded and the there is a strong likelihood that drought conditions WILL develop here come next week.

This is a time of the year when the sun angle in approaching its peak and when we lose nearly a quarter-inch of moisture from the soil daily. We just cannot keep up when we go this dry for this long. Looking at the forecast short and long-term the prospects of rainfall are very slim. Off two long range machines, specific to Indianapolis, the rainfall forecast is shy of a quarter-inch. We need about 1.50″ of rain in that span just to keep pace. It is going to get worse before it gets better.

The heat will feed off the drier soils and the next few afternoons have a real chance of producing area-wide 90-degree temperatures, the very first of the year officially for Indianapolis. The average date of the first 90° high falls on June 14th. Last year it fell on June 13th and we went on to have 23 days reach and exceed 90° with the last one of the season September 21st.

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