) All across Louisiana, parents are filing into school gyms and auditoriums to be addressed by hopeful graduates as they finish the final act of the 12-year production that is known as "school". For many in Lafayette, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and other cities, there will be more schooling following high school.

It's important to look toward the future, and if there is one thing we can be certain about when it comes to Louisiana over the next three months, it's going to be hot. But is it going to be record-breaking hot, and will we get enough cooling rain showers to make life along the bayou tolerable for months before football season?

Parish By Parish- Probability of a Hurricane Making Landfall

The Climate Prediction Center is the division of the National Weather Service that is in charge of long-range and medium-range forecasts, and they have released what is often thought of as the "summer outlook". It's the three-month prognostication that includes June, July, and August.

While very general in nature, these 90-day outlooks can give you a broad sense of what to expect when planning for summer activities. Speaking of those activities, we know it is going to be hot across the Gulf South. But will it be regular hot or "unGodly" hot, as we have experienced over the previous two summers?

Here is the graphic outline from the CPC and NOAA.

Most of Louisiana is in the "likely above" normal temperature range for the forecast period. That means temperatures in the low to mid-90s will be expected for the summer months. We will probably have a few days of near triple-digit heat before the end of August, but then again, we could have some days where the temperatures won't even reach into the 90s.

The reason we say that is the outlook for precipitation across the Gulf South and Louisiana. We can usually quell those outrageous temperatures with an afternoon shower or thunderstorm. And based on what the Climate Prediction Center is thinking for the summer months, it does not appear as though a major drought is in our future plans.

In the short term, we should note that the Climate Prediction Center does have Louisiana on tap for temperatures that will be slightly cooler than or right at seasonal averages through the end of this month. There is also a slightly higher risk of precipitation for the end of May. At least that is what the long-range forecast for the next two weeks is suggesting.