Interesting news for the many, many people who spent this long winter whining about how they’d prefer anything to the repeated polar vortexes and numerous snow storms: According to the 2014 Farmer’s Almanac, the upcoming summer is going to be “oppressively hot and humid for the New York area.” That description could apply to almost all the New York summers we are aware of, but it seems that this one might be even worse than usual, with “a higher-than-average amount of rain across the five boroughs” that will not lower the elevated temperatures, but instead wrap them in a damp wool blanket of misery to be stuck to everyone’s clammy flesh.
Now, Gothamist’s weather guy Joe Schumacher points out the obvious: Like all weather-forecasting tools, the Farmer’s Almanac, which began publishing 200 years ago, is not always completely accurate. However, he admits that there is “an unstated kernel of truth” to the prediction. Meteorologists have already said that there is a 50 percent chance that the coming months could bring the weather phenomenon known as El Niño, a warming of the Pacific Ocean associated with increased heat, precipitation, and — yes — a milder winter in 2015.
So, that means that cold-weather-haters might just get their wished-for opportunity to suffer through a hellish summer in exchange for less icy seasons to follow. But not quite yet: One last cold front is expected to hit the East Coast this evening, with temperatures falling into the 30s before rising again on Thursday. Enjoy it while it lasts — or don’t! Just remember that, as our own Jonathan Chait noted several months ago, people can always warm up by putting on additional layers of clothing, but there’s only so much they can take off before it’s impossible to cool down.
