Meteorologists divide the season into four quarters based on the calendar year, which is more in line with our annual temperature cycles.
Summer temperatures do take hold in June. At the National Weather Service in Negaunee Township, on June 1, the average high is 68° and the low is 45°. By month’s end with a high of 75° and low of 53°, temperatures are only two degrees shy of the maximum summer average high and low.
June’s hottest temperatures usually occur at the end of the month. The NWS hit 99° on June 30, 1963, while Houghton reached 99° the last day of the month in 1931. Marquette soared to 101° on June 30, 1963 and also on June 29, 1931. Iron Mountain reached 100° earliest in the month during a scorching heat wave the third week of June 1995.
The coldest June low temperatures are all in the 20s. Marquette’s low of 29 on June 8, 1862 is the only time the temperature has dipped below 30 in the city during June.
As for precipitation, June’s average rainfall at the NWS is 3.27″. It’s the wettest summer month on average. Tropical moisture can make its way north during June. This was tragically illustrated by the record deluge of nearly six inches of rain that flooded Houghton on Father’s Day 2018.
And yes, it has snowed in the past. Most years, there is no snow, but a few times there’s been trace amounts. But on June 2-3, 1945, two inches of snow fell in Houghton, while anywhere from three to six inches of snow was reported over the higher elevations of the western and central U.P.
