More hotter-than-usual weather in store for Tri-Cities this month

The Tri-Cities is not expected to escape hotter-than-usual weather in June as the month starts with temperatures that could break records this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service predicts temperatures for the month will average above normal. Normal highs for the Tri-Cities in June rise from 78 degrees at the start of the month to 86 degrees at the end of the month.

But the coming Sunday and Monday could see highs in the 100s, weeks before the official start of summer, according to the weather service.

Normal lows for June in the Tri-Cities rise from 54 degrees to 59 degrees. But by the end of this week lows are expected to be in the 60s.

The anticipated hot weather comes after a warmer than usual spring.

May temperatures in the Tri-Cities averaged 3.2 degrees above normal. But it was not a record-breaker like April, when temperatures averaged 6.6 degrees above normal, setting a new record for Kennewick.

At Hanford, where daily temperature records are kept back to 1945, the temperatures for the spring months of March through May were well above normal each month, together averaging about 4 degrees above normal.

One daily temperature record was set in May at the Hanford Meteorological Station.

The low temperature on May 4 of 59 degrees was warmer than the previous warmest low on record for the date, 57 degrees in 1946, according to the Hanford Meteorology Service.

In addition, the high of 91 degrees May 3 tied the record high set for the date in 1966.

In Kennewick the warmest temperature of the month was 91 degrees on May 4 and the coolest high was 64 degrees on May 16.

Precipitation in June in the Tri-Cities is expected to be about normal.

May was wet in the Tri-Cities, with 1.73 inches of precipitation, which was 1.09 inches above normal, according to the weather service. Rain fell on six days.

For the water year, which starts in October, 7.57 inches of precipitation have been recorded in the Tri-Cities, which is 1.05 inches above normal.

The peak wind gust in May, as measured in Kennewick, was 46 mph on May 4 with a repeat the next day. At the Hanford Meteorological Station, the peak wind gust was 46 mph on May 26.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 4:18 PM with the headline "More hotter-than-usual weather in store for Tri-Cities this month."