It’s the first day of fall – but it may not seem that way.

Coming out of the 8th warmest summer on record, this fall season is expected to be warm and dry, although the first day didn’t show that, said state climatologist Jim Angel.

Today the season opened up with thunderstorms, which Angel said is to be expected, because of the La Nina affect.

“We came off with fairly warm and wet conditions statewide for June, July and August,” Angel said. “Champaign-Urbana this summer was 3 degrees above normal.”

He said that the Pacific Ocean will also lead to warmer weather all fall.

“The normal highs and lows for this time of the month is 73 and the normal low is 50,” he said. “Typically we have warm, dry falls associated with La Nina in the Pacific Ocean.”

Though the heat is a bit unusual, Angel said the weather should cool down over the course of the week, specifically due to the rain.

“The forecast moving on into the week will be closer to what you expect for this time of year,” he said. “I think this heat will be short-lived.”

Warm weather aside, Angel says there is nothing to indicate that this fall will be unusually long or short, and that no significant weather risks are associated with the season, aside from the thunderstorms, which he said will happen more this fall than other years.

“There is an increased chance of precipitation this year because of La Nina,” he said. “I think we’ll see near normal temps and above normal precipitation, which will include snowfall when winter comes.”