Hot start to summer predicted for most states. Map shows where it'll be warmest
(NEXSTAR) – Ready for summer? So is the weather forecast.
A seasonal forecast released by the Climate Prediction Center on Thursday shows a warmer-than-average outlook for nearly every state over the next three months.
The map, which shows broad predictions for May, June and July, is colored in shades of yellow and orange. The darker the color, the more likely an area is to experience unseasonably warm weather.
La Niña is over, NOAA announces. What comes next?
The highest chance of hot weather is found in Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. The region has a 60% to 70% chance of hotter-than-normal weather over the next three months, according to the Climate Prediction Center.
A dozen states across the West, South and New England aren't too far behind, also likely to see a warm start to summer.
Only a small slice of the Upper Midwest and part of Alaska are shaded in white, which indicates equal chances of three outcomes: normal temperatures, above-average temperatures, and below-average temperatures.
While nearly the entire U.S. is expected to see warm weather, it's a different story for rain.
West of the Mississippi, most states are leaning toward below-average rain. That's bad news for the growing drought out West.
The East Coast and Gulf states, on the other hand, are expected to see more rain than average over the next three months.
The seasonal predictions come after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an official end to La Niña last week.
That leaves us in 'ENSO-neutral' conditions. This situation, affectionately nicknamed La Nada, means neither La Niña nor El Niño is present.
Neutral 'La Nada' times can make predicting seasonal weather a bit more challenging. This less predictable, neutral status is expected to last through at least the summer.
Starting in the fall, the chances of La Niña or El Niño returning start to grow. At this point, a La Niña winter looks more likely than El Niño for late 2025 and early 2026.
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Northwestern School District business manager Paul Sachar had been delivering packets for a coming school board meeting to school directors that Friday afternoon and was heading home to Cranesville when his brother-in-law, a ham radio operator, called and advised him to go back to Albion. "He said there had been a tornado and it had caused some damage, but he didn't know how severe," Sachar, now retired, said. Just weeks before, Sachar had agreed to serve as the district's emergency management coordinator at the request of schools Superintendent Andrew Hills. "He said that we needed to designate an emergency management person and that there probably wouldn't be much that I needed to do," Sachar said. "Then in a month or a little over a month we were faced with a major crisis." Though just blocks away from some of the worst storm damage, schools on Northwestern's Albion campus were untouched. A temporary morgue was set up at Northwestern High School. 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