ESCANABA — Warm temperatures have been scarce this spring, and despite the predicted warmer weekend, consistent warmer weather is not expected arrive in the U.P. until late June.

According to the National Weather Service in Marquette, this year was one of the top five coldest and wettest starts to the year on record.

Matt Zika, a meteorologist at the NWS in Marquette, said this is due to the atmosphere in the Great Lakes region being locked in a pattern more favorable to cooler weather.

He explained since mid-January, the U.P. has been stuck in a cold pattern.

Typically May marks the beginning of warmer weather for the U.P.

“The month of May was between five and six degrees below normal for the whole U.P.,” Zika said.

According to the NWS, the month of May typically averages 45.2 degrees.

“39.5 degrees was the average temperature for the entire month of May,” Zika said.

The warmer weather this week has sparked hope for locals that warmer weather is finally arrived in the U.P., but that might not be the case.

Zika said warmer weather is predicted to continue through the weekend. Cooler temperatures, however, are expected to arrive next week.

“The temperature will be on the cool side all of next week compared to what is normal,” he said.

The second week of June will not be as cool as what we have seen in the month of May though, noted Zika.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel though.

According to NWS, the end of June and early July is when the temperatures will become closer to normal.

“If we look at the later part of June and early July, it shows the temperatures closer to normal than what was seen in May and part of June,” Zika said.

He added it’s going to take some time to get to the true stretch of summer weather.

With the month of May also being the second wettest May in recorded history for the U.P., Zika said the Great Lakes broke record high water levels in May.

“We’ll more than likely see record breaking highs continue in the coming months as well,” he said.