IRON MOUNTAIN — A National Weather Service outlook slightly favors a warm summer for the Upper Peninsula with a neutral view on rainfall.

The Climate Prediction Center sees a 37% chance of above-average temperatures through August and a 29% chance of below average.

“The outlook favors above-normal temperatures for the entire contiguous U.S., and probabilities are enhanced over the West, Florida and Northeast,” said NWS forecaster Johnna Infanti.

The precipitation outlook favors below-normal rainfall stretching from the Northwest coast to the Upper Mississippi Valley, as well as parts of the central and southern Plains, Infanti said. Above-normal precipitation is favored over the Southeast and along the East Coast.

June is off to a wet start locally, but May was exceptionally dry. The rainfall total at the Iron Mountain-Kingsford Wastewater Treatment Plant for the month was 0.87 inches, which was the driest May this century.

It marked the eighth-driest May since observations began in the early 1900s. The driest May on record at Iron Mountain-Kingsford was in 1986, at 0.39 inches.

May was wetter in other areas of the U.P. as 2.59 inches of rain was reported at Manistique. Both Marquette and Ironwood reported about 2 inches of rain for the month, according to NWS data.

The U.S. Drought Monitor as of Thursday shows abnormally dry conditions across northern Wisconsin, stretching across the Michigan border into Gogebic County and southern Iron and Menominee counties. The worst drought in the U.S. is in southwestern Texas and southern New Mexico, where conditions in some areas are exceptional.

Temperatures in May at Iron Mountain-Kingsford averaged 54.6 degrees, which was 0.4 degrees above average. The highest reading was 85 degrees on May 12 and the lowest was 31 degrees on both May 8 and May 9.

A warm spell from May 10 to May 16 kept temperatures above average despite a nine-day chilly period that followed.

Along with the outlook for a possibly warm U.S. summer, forecasters predict smoke from Canadian wildfires will continue to flow south in cycles throughout the season.

Pockets of smoke and haze were expected to hover over portions of the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes through this weekend, but the density should decline, AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. The break, however, could be short-lived.

“Between Sunday and Monday, a cold front diving out of Canada is expected to bring a resurgence of smoky skies,” Buckingham said. “This will likely target many of the same areas that experienced smoky skies this past week, especially across the northern Plains and Midwest.”

The size of wildfires reported to date is more than 300% above the historical average for this time of year, according to data released by the Canadian government.

The first day of summer arrives with the solstice this year at 9:42 p.m. Central time Friday, June 20.