How hot will NC get this summer? The 2025 forecast shows it’ll be ‘a doozy’
With memories of the two hottest years on record around the globe still burning the soles of our bare feet, what does the summer of 2025 hold in store?
In North Carolina, forecasters say, it’ll likely be another hot one.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts Summer 2025 will be “a doozy,” which sounds ominous, if a bit unscientific, when spoken by forecasters who can intuit the exact right hour and moon phase in which to plant tomatoes.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center has a less folksy but equally steamy assessment.
Here’s what the forecasts say.
What is The Old Farmer’s Almanac forecast?
Across most of the U.S., “It’s going to be a scorcher of a summer,” the Almanac said in April, with above-average temperatures everywhere but in the Northwest and South Florida.
In Texas and Oklahoma, the magazine said, temperatures could run 4 degrees above normal, the same as in Kansas, Iowa and across the Midwest.
In North Carolina:
▪ Expect June to be a degree above normal for the month, with two hot spells: June 1-9 and June 20-30.
▪ Look for July to be about 3 degrees above average for the month, with two heat waves: July 1-10 and July 20-31.
▪ August will run about 2 degrees above the historical average for the month, the almanac said, with a particularly hot spell from the beginning to the middle of the month, Aug. 1-15.
NOAA’s summer forecast
The Climate Prediction Center’s Seasonal Outlook for June, July and August shows a 40% to 50% likelihood of above-average temperatures across all of North Carolina.
According to usclimatedata.com, the average high temperature in Raleigh is 86 degrees in June, 89 degrees in July and 87 degrees in August.
NOAA doesn’t make specific predictions about daily temperatures more than a week or so in advance, looking instead at trends and global weather patterns.
Will it be a rainy summer in North Carolina?
The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts below-average rainfall by about 2 inches each month from June to August.
NOAA’s forecast differs on the rainfall forecast, saying:
▪ There is a 40% to 50% likelihood of above-average rainfall in southeastern North Carolina;
▪ A 33% to 40% likelihood of above-average rainfall in most of the rest of North Carolina, including Raleigh and the Triangle;
▪ Equal chances for above- or below-average rainfall in the extreme southwestern corner of the state.
Will North Carolina be affected by a hurricane this year?
Colorado State University’s forecast for the 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season, which runs from June 1 through Nov. 30, calls for a higher-than-average number of storms and ones that are stronger than average.
The university’s meteorologists and statisticians expect 17 named storms, 9 of them hurricanes.
Overall, the researchers said, there is a 26% chance that a major storm will hit the U.S. East Coast, including North Carolina, this year, compared to a 21% chance on average.
This story was originally published May 13, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "How hot will NC get this summer? The 2025 forecast shows it’ll be ‘a doozy’."
