Empire's in-house month-to-month national WDD outlook, benchmarked against 10-year and 30-year normals. Updated as guidance evolves.
Empire monthly forecast · National weighted degree days
Month-to-month WDD versus 10-year and 30-year normals · last updated Aug 9 6:54 PM ET
Month
WDD
10Y Normal
30Y Normal
vs 10Y
Avg (last 10)
Trend
Confidence
360.0
350.0
324.0
+10.0
360.0
1 update
high
240.0
222.0
292.0
+18.0
238.3+1.7
high
Note: Switch to HDD
250.0
280.0
238.0
-30.0
248.3+1.7
moderate
Note: Switch to HDD
500.0
562.0
540.0
-62.0
500.0
1 update
low
WDD = population-weighted heating + cooling degree days, 65°F base, aggregated nationally. Normals reflect trailing 10-year and 1991-2020 30-year climatology. Forecast values are Empire Weather's in-house monthly outlook, not raw model output. Avg (last 10) is the mean WDD across that month's 10 most recent forecast updates; expand a month to see its revision history.
Monthly temperature anomaly outlook
Empire's departure-from-normal temperature call for August 2026
Much AboveAboveSlightly AboveNear NormalSlightly BelowBelowMuch Below
Empire WDD versus normals
Monthly national weighted degree days against 10-year and 30-year climatology
Empire WDD10Y Normal30Y Normal
Forecast discussion
Last updated Aug 9 6:52 PM ET
The forecast over the next 30 days features warmer than normal temperatures which are biased specifically towards the MidCon region. The Northeast US, specifically New England, will struggle to see consistent warmth. Areas of well-above normal temperatures are expected in parts of Oklahoma for the rest of August. Monsoonal clouds and precipitation will also limit warmth in parts of Arizona and Utah. The general pattern will persist into September although some eastward push of ridging is expected. Again, Midcon warmth will dominate. October and November are much more unclear at this point - while both months are expected to average below 10/30 year HDDs. November in particular looks warm across the Northern 1/3 on the vast majority of analog and seasonal model guidance.