ODESSA, Texas — The Climate Prediction Center has released the weather outlook for summer 2023. Their prediction is that we see warmer than average temperatures, along with about average precipitation.
This is not a deterministic forecast, of course. In fact, the outlook that there is a 50-60% chance that we are warmer than average this summer, means that there is a 40-50% chance that we are in the union of cooler or near average.
There's also a good chance that an El Niño develops by the fall. El Niños often bring cooler and wetter weather during the cold months for the southern U.S.
There isn't a perfect correlation though; 1 in 5 El Niños end up going against expectations by being warm and dry.
Still, the future looks promising in terms of precipitation, as we shouldn't fall too much further into drought over the summer and hopefully see some improvement in the fall and winter.