My dad was a teacher at Lincoln, Kennedy and Washington schools in Ely nine months out of the year and worked in Dave Desannoy’s gravel pit near Tower the other three months. In the early 80’s he taught me to run a backhoe and a bulldozer. I hope I can dust off those 45 year old skills because I just got a deal on an old Cat D2 dozer. It should come in handy cutting some lanes on my property. Normally I would wait until the ground was frozen to do that because who wants to get four tons of steel beast buried in the mud of the Sax Zim bog? However, this June may be awfully dry which might minimize that risk.

The forecast for June says the temperature will be near normal but rain will be two inches short of normal.

The first to the fourth may be drizzly and cool. The 5th to 11th should go sunny and mild with occasional thunderstorms. The 12th to 18th could feature a warm spell which may trigger some scattered rains. The 19th to 23rd could cool down and dry up. The rest of June should go sunny, warm and dry.

If June turns out to be normal for temperatures, the rest of the summer will go to the hot side according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac. They think record heat will be with us in July and August. They remind us that last year was the hottest in recorded history which means the year 1880. We have a shot at beating that only a year later.