(NEXSTAR) – If beach days and barbecues just make you think of itchy sand and sunburns, you may be ready for summer to be over. Fall is just around the corner, but fall weather may not be coming with it.
In most parts of the country, this record-breaking hot summer is likely to be followed by a hotter-than-average fall, the Climate Prediction Center, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said.
Their seasonal outlook, released Thursday, shows every state at least partially leaning toward hotter-than-average temperatures between September and November. The Four Corners states and New England have the highest chances (60% to 70%) of seeing an unseasonably hot fall.
The only exception on the continental U.S. is a sliver of the West Coast, which has about equal chances of seeing one of three outcomes: a warmer-than-average fall, a cooler-than-average fall, or an average fall.
Fall weather around the country may also be influenced by La Niña once it arrives.
La Niña usually brings dry, warmer-than-average conditions to the southern half of the country, which you can early see signs of in the fall weather predictions from NOAA. But La Niña hasn't started just yet; it's favored to settle in at some point before November and strengthen into the winter months.
As La Niña reaches its winter peak, it may worsen drought conditions in the West, as it has in years past.
Meanwhile, the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley tend to see more rain, and northern states can see extra-cold weather – both of which probably sound pretty appealing after the scorching summer of 2024.
