BEATRICE, Neb. - As spring turns to summer, we’ve finally made it to warmer days.

However, with these warmer days comes extreme heat, severe storms and drought. NCN caught up with NWS Omaha Warning Coordinator Brian Smith to take a look into the summer weather outlook for the southeast region of Nebraska.

Smith says temperatures are still a toss up.

“June, July, August we have equal chances of it being above normal, below normal, or near normal,” Smith said. “As of now, there’s no clear signal. What we do know, is that down in the southwest part of the US, they are seeing above normal temperatures.”

Smith says there is a chance for that above normal line to climb northeast towards Nebraska. As for stretches of days above 95-100 degrees, Smith says that’s just a part of summer, but this year, it points more towards late summer to early fall, for those dog days of summer.

“That can happen anytime of the summer,” Smith said. “That was especially true in August last summer, but I think that that is something we can expect especially later in the summer depending on what happens with the upper level ridge.”

Another meteorological theme heading into summer: drought. Much of northeast Nebraska has been in the “exceptional drought” category for weeks, but now Southeast Nebraska counties such as York and Seward are finding themselves in that range as well. Smith says a number of heavy storms will be needed to lessen the burden.

“You look at this past week, where we’ve had storms, they’ve been in western Nebraska, southwestern Nebraska, but not much here,” Smith said. “We’re getting into that summer time season when the storms are hit and miss.”