Many people consider Memorial Day the unofficial start of summer, but will it feel that way for the holiday weekend?

What You Need To Know

  • Saturday will be the coolest day of the long holiday weekend

  • It'll feel more like summer by Memorial Day

  • It’s time to bust out the grills as dry weather prevails

The weather for the end of the work and school week is just a tease of what’s coming for this weekend.

An area of high pressure will park itself over the Great Lakes, guaranteeing us quiet weather all weekend long.

Following Wednesday's cold front, unseasonably cool air returned for Thursday. Friday will be slightly warmer, but temperatures will continue to improve as the holiday weekend goes on.

Highs will be in the 70s for Saturday, and we'll see some spots crack into the low 80s come Sunday. 

Again, many people consider Memorial Day to be the unofficial start of summer. It'll feel that way this year with highs in the upper 70s through the mid-80s on Monday.

Keep in mind, Syracuse’s average high for this point in May is in the low 70s. Memorial Day is reserved for the last Monday of May and not a set date like Christmas, so the climatological data can vary.

With that said, this Memorial Day will fall on May 29. Syracuse's record high for that date is 93 set back in 2012.

So it won't be record breaking, but unseasonably warm for this Memorial Day. The same could be said for last year when the Syracuse airport hit a very summer-like high of 86 degrees.

Speaking of last year, it was a bit of a soggy start to the 2022 Memorial Day weekend with rain Friday and into early Saturday. That won’t be the case this time around, as sunshine will dominate the sky each day of the long holiday weekend.

Memorial Day weekend last year stretched from the 28th through the 30th, with a high of 70 on Saturday, 78 on Sunday, and 86 for Memorial Day itself on Monday.

But just 2 years ago, the holiday weekend never saw temperatures exceed 72 in 2021, with periods of rain also in the mix.

The record soggiest May 29 in Syracuse’s history was back in 2016 when 2.42 inches of rain fell.

Long story short, get out and enjoy the weather this weekend because it'll be beautiful and warm.

Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.