The first day of summer and longest day of year is June 21

Summer officially begins on Friday, June 21, although it won’t feel like summer as temperatures are expected to dip into the low to mid-70s for the rest of the week in Weiser.
 The unseasonably cooler temperatures will likely be welcome by visitors to Weiser who are camping out this week at Stickerville, Fiddletown or on the lawn of the Institute buildings for the 67th annual National Oldtime Fiddlers’ Contest.
 Known as the summer solstice, June 21 also will be the longest day of 2019 for anyone living north of the equator. After that date, the days begin to get imperceptibly shorter.
 June has been a predictably dry month so far with below average precipitation. It’s also been hot with temperatures in the western end of the Treasure Valley reaching 90 degrees or hotter every day since June 11. The hottest day was June 16 with 95 degrees.
 June follows an exceedingly wet spring across the Treasure Valley, with April and May rain totals above average.
 In fact, the Treasure Valley exceeded a rainfall milestone over the Memorial holiday weekend.  The valley moved up in the record books to the second wettest year ever topping 10.71 inches of rain. The wettest recorded year was in 1896, when 12.81 inches of precipitation fell by May 28, according to the National Weather Service.
 The western end of the Treasure Valley received 2.52 inches of rain in May, which was 1.24 inches more than the normal precipitation for the month. There were 17 days during the month when at least a trace of rain or more was recorded. Boise received 3.98 inches of rain in May. The total for the month was 2.59 inches more than average for the month.
 Areas in the valley and region broke single-day rainfall records in May, according to the NWS.
 A record was set on May 20 in Ontario, Ore., for daily rainfall amount of .65 inches. The old record for the date was .30 inches in 1981. Also on May 20, a record .63 inches of rain fell at Mountain Home Air Force Base, breaking the old record of .53 inches set in 1996.
 On May 19, a record was set at Burns, Ore., where a total of .97 inches of rain for the date broke the old record of .82 inches set in 1953.
 In its water outlook for June, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, reported that afternoon thunderstorms became near daily occurrences in May and left the Boise, Payette and Weiser basins at 132 percent, 94 percent and 117 percent of normal monthly precipitation.
 Year-to-date precipitation for the Boise, Payette, and Weiser basins as of June 1 was 113 percent, 109 percent and 124 percent of normal, respectively.
 In the Boise and Payette basins, above normal snow remained in the mountains above 7,000 feet in elevation and snowmelt briefly paused or slowed mid-May due to cooler temperatures that accompanied storms.
 The Boise and Payette snowpack levels were 123 percent and 86 percent of normal, respectively. All Weiser river basin Snotel sites reported no snow remaining.