NOAA updated its National Weather Service September map with eight-to-14-day temperature and precipitation outlooks for Sept. 11-17. The update points to a broad stretch of the US that could still run warmer and wetter than normal as mid-September approaches.
For temperatures, most of the US, aside from part of Alaska, was mapped above normal. NOAA put the South and parts of the Midwest in the likely-above range, with the hottest regions showing 70-90% probability. The rest of the Midwest, parts of the West South Central region, a portion of the West and Southwest, and most of New England also leaned above normal.
NOAA drew a different picture along the West Coast and Pacific Northwest, where temperatures were expected to be near normal for Sept. 11-17. That contrast leaves the map split between a large warm signal across much of the country and a cooler-looking strip on the Pacific edge.
Precipitation also leaned active across much of the map. Most of the US could see above-average rainfall through the beginning of mid-September, while a good chunk of the South and most of the Midwest were expected to sit near normal. The West North Central, West South Central, parts of the Mountain regions, and New England were forecast above normal for precipitation.
NOAA also showed the West Coast likely above normal for precipitation in most of the region, with a small pocket of the Pacific Northwest leaning the same way. Alaska and Hawaii were forecast to receive precipitation above the norm. With the outlook landing less than a week before the first day of autumn, the map leaves readers in the West Coast and Pacific Northwest watching whether near-normal temperatures come with wetter conditions than the rest of the country.
