Alpena area to see temperatures jump into 80s, hold steady for upcoming weeks

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz T.J. Carpenter throws a ball into Thunder Bay at Mich-e-ke-wis Park, as his dog, Greta, chases after it on Sunday. The dog and its owner enjoyed the sunshine and the canine couldn’t get enough of the water.
ALPENA — After a few days of moderate temperatures and some rain, temperatures are predicted to jump to 80 degrees for the following 10 days or so.
The National Weather Service says the recent trend of on-again, off-again rain showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue.
According to the National Weather Service, for the better part of this week, temperatures will hover in the low to mid-70s, but climb into the 80s on Friday and hold steady and even climb into the mid to upper 80s over the next two weeks.
Keith Berger, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said so far this summer, the area hasn’t had a long stretch of hot weather. He said despite three days in the middle of June, where temperatures climbed to about 90 degrees, rain has followed hot days and forced temperatures down.
Now, he said, that pattern could change and more traditional summer weather appears to be in the cards.
“We haven’t had a chance to just bake like we normally do this time of year,” he said. “But, as we enter mid-July and August, we could see the beginning of the dog days of summer and might lock into our more typical weather pattern.”
Berger said the Alpena area will still receive an occasional rain shower or pop-up thunderstorm over the next several weeks, but he said temperatures should rebound and become warmer than what they have during the earlier part of summer.
“We have been in a system where every two or three days we get a system where we get rain, it cools, and then it starts to warm up again,” Berger said. “But, then another system follows quickly and things cool down again. I can’t say for sure, but we might be exiting this cycle.”
Outside of the three days in the 90s last month, there were more than a handful of days in the 80s, which were staggered throughout the month.
There were many cool nights that dragged the average temperature for the month down.
Temperatures dipped into the 40s on eight different occasions and, at the end of June, the average high temperature was 76 degrees, which was only one-tenth of a degree above the long-term average.
The amount of rain last month was also significant, Berger said. He said in June, Alpena received 6.2 inches of rain, which easily eclipsed the 2.74 long-term average.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.