I’ll be the first to admit…the Middle Tennessee weather over the last six months has been wacky! No real snow chances, no major storm outbreaks (not complaining!) and very streaky temperatures. You would figure that would make it pretty difficult to forecast the summer months…perhaps. But since the woolly worm doesn’t help us out this time of year, and we are starting to get e-mails wondering what we think what the summer months will hold for us…I am left with the humble record book.

Flashback to 1997…El Nino in place, a cool start to the winter in December. The winter chill peaked in mid January where lows were in the single numbers. Temperatures gradually moderated from there and we saw very little snowfall (around 3″ in Nashville) that winter. It was really wet in March (9.64″ of rain) followed by a slow start to the summer warmth.

Sound familiar???

We are currently in a weak El Nino pattern. Early winter was cool; lows in mid January were in the lower teens and then readings moderated with only a tiny amount of winter snowfall. We had a very wet April (6.93″) and a very slow start to the summer warmth.

So, what was the summer of ‘97 like? Glad you asked!

May 1997: Only around 2″ of rain until the final weekend.
June 1997: Readings were cool for the first half, much warmer for the second half.
July 1997: Dry and hot. 17 straight days above 90 degrees and 99 degrees on July 27th!
August 1997: Typical temperatures but long stretches of dry weather.

This way of long range prediction has its faults, but who was the person that said, “Those who do not learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.”

Your predictions?

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