Warm weather returned to the 12-state Northeast region during June. The monthly departure for the region -- 1.5 degrees above normal -- was the largest monthly departure for any month since last October, according to climatologists at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University.

Pennsylvania and West Virginia reported the largest departures this month: each 2 degrees above normal. Connecticut, Delaware and Maine had the smallest departures, each reporting a monthly departure of 0.8 degrees above normal.

The first three weeks of the month were consistently warm, but not extremely hot. Only a few records were set and 90-degree temperatures were generally recorded no farther north than southern Pennsylvania and central New Jersey. Cooler weather arrived to close out the month.

Precipitation averaged slightly wetter than normal in the Northeast, with some locations reporting extremely heavy rain during the course of the month. Langhorne, Pa., reported more than 11 inches of rain on June 12. Other places that received very heavy rain June 18-19 included Erie, Pa., with 4.65 inches, and Gettysburg, Pa., measuring 10.72 inches.

The Northeast region overall averaged 112 percent of the normal June rainfall amount. This was significantly more than June 1995, when only 74 percent was reported. New Jersey reported the largest departure from normal, with 144 percent of the long-term mean. Pennsylvania averaged 5.8 inches (137 percent of normal), for their seventh wettest June on record. Drier than normal conditions were reported in southern New England and West Virginia. Rhode Island was the driest state with only 1.83 inches of rain (54 percent of normal).