Kansas and Nebraska will escape a hot, cruel summer, weather officials predict

Ah, Kansas in the summertime. Hot, sweaty and muggy, right?

But maybe not this year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its summer weather outlook this week. Above-average heat is expected for most of the country, except right in the middle of the map.

Kansas and Nebraska are expected to escape the scorching temps.

“Most of the continental United States is facing elevated chances of well-above average summer temperatures,” NOAA announced.

Straight-out blazing, pronounced the New York Daily News.

The outlook follows NOAA’s recent report that the last 12 months have been the warmest consecutive 12 months in the United States since the agency started keeping records.

Even Alaska saw a “record early start it is growing season,” NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch told reporters, noting a “record early breakup of ice along the Yukon River.”

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center released a colorful map of the United States showing how likely it is that each region will experience unusually warm temperatures.

It reveals the strong likelihood during June through August almost all states will sweat under temperatures falling within the warmest third of all summers on record.

“The use of the color red in the map above may be confusing,” CNBC noted. “It is not indicating how hot a region is likely to be, but instead shows the likelihood that a region will experience hotter than normal temperatures.

“The dark red regions represent those areas most likely to see a jump. The white, oval-shaped spot in the center of the map is expected to be spared from hotter-than-normal temperatures.”

That white, oval-shaped spot in the center? That’s Kansas and Nebraska, slivers of Oklahoma, South Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming and the northern edge of Texas.

The flip side? Those states and a few in the western United States might have more rain than usual, too, according to NOAA.

“A distinct pattern is portrayed on the map,” Fortune notes. “There’s a white circle right in the middle, and then as you travel further out, the likelihood goes up to orange, and then turns red closer to the coasts.”

Nebraska and Kansas are the only entire states to fall within the “equal chances” zone. Their odds of well-above average temperatures are the same as their odds of near-average or even well-below average temps.

According to the map, Alaska’s Aleutian Islands have the greatest possibility of record heat - a 60 to 70 percent chance.

The Midwest feels your pain, Alaska. Just maybe not this year.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 10:33 AM with the headline "Kansas and Nebraska will escape a hot, cruel summer, weather officials predict."