Summer weather continues

Fair weather hit the region in time for the Blaine County Fair last week and is expected to continue this week with the Great Northern Fair starting in Havre Wednesday.

After a cool spring that started dry then turned to some significant moisture — including some flooding on the Rocky Mountain Front — this region has seen highs hitting the 80s and lower 90s with mainly sunny days.

Weather prognosticators say that is likely to remain the case for the near future.

Other than a chance of thunderstorms later in the week the National Weather Service forecast calls for mostly clear to partly cloudy skies through the weekend, with highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s.

The Weather Channel forecast is close to that prediction, although it predicts highs in the lower 90s in the midweek, just in time for the Great Northern Fair in Havre.

Weather for fairgoers held for most of the Blaine County Fair last week as well, according to AccuWeather.com. The fair started in Chinook Thursday and ran through Sunday.

Accuweather reports that Chinook saw highs of 90 degrees Thursday, 80 Friday, 91 Saturday and 92 degrees Sunday, with lows of 62 Thursday and in the 50s through the weekend.

AccuWeather reports Chinook saw rain only on one of those days, with .09 inches of precipitation reported for Friday.

That weather pattern is closely mirrored in the forecasts during this week’s Great Northern Fair.

Wednesday, the first day the midway opens and most events start at the fair in Hill County, the Weather Service forecast calls for sunny conditions with light wind and a high of 89 degrees. The forecast predicts a chance of thunderstorms after midnight.

The chance of thunderstorms remains in the forecast Thursday, drops off Thursday night before returning for Friday, Friday night and Saturday, though no thunderstorms are in the forecast for Saturday night or Sunday.

The main forecast for those days, other than the chance of thunderstorms, is for sunny or mostly sunny skies and highs of 88 Thursday, 83 Friday, 81 Saturday and 82 Sunday. Lows are expected to range from 53 degrees to 59 degrees.

The Weather Channel and AccuWeather forecasts are similar to the Weather Service, although both limit their thunderstorm predictions to Friday and both have slightly higher high temperatures in their forecasts.

Weather Channel predicts highs starting Wednesday and running through Sunday of 92, 94, 86, 88 and 87, with lows in the mid- to high-50s.

AccuWeather highs for the forecast period are 89, 94, 86, 85 and 87, also with lows in the mid- to high-50s.

And though little rain is in the near-term forecasts for this region, recent storms have brought the level of precipitation back near to where it normally is, although it again is starting to dry out.

After a relatively wet fall last year, lower levels of precipitation in the late winter and early spring, especially a very dry May, took the level of precipitation down below where it normally would be and was starting to dry out lawns, gardens and crops.

By June 11, Havre had received only .19 inches of precipitation that month, compared to a normal level of .83 inches by that day and dropping Havre to almost three-quarters of an inch below the norm for the calendar year and almost a tenth-of-an-inch below the norm for the water year that runs from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. But that night rain started to fall.

From June 11 through last Wednesday night, the last day the National Weather Service station at the Havre City-County Airport recorded precipitation, Havre received 2.67 inches of rain, bringing the total for the calendar year to 6.47 inches and 8.48 inches for the water year. That put Havre at a third-of-an-inch above normal for the water year and a third-of-an-inch below normal for the calendar year.