AUTUMN OUTLOOK

After a warm and wet summer, Minnesota may be facing a fall with ... more of the same.

NOAA's Climate Prediction Center indicates that "meteorological fall" -- September, October and November -- is likely to bring above-normal temperatures to Minnesota, with the trend most emphatic in the northeast part of the state. The agency is noncommittal on precipitation.

Telvent DTN, a Burnsville-based private forecaster, is more specific, calling for an average temperature 1.5 degrees above normal, with warmth increasing through the period. Chief science officer Jeff Johnson also said precipitation should be above normal in September, with October and November drying out.

Telvent DTN nearly hit the bull's-eye with a prediction of a summer average temperature 3 degrees above normal; the Twin Cities average was 3.4 degrees above normal.

Roseville meteorologist Frank Watson is foreseeing continuing warmth and raininess, particularly in the early stretches of fall.