Summer 2009 is off to a hot start, but maybe a misleading one.

The current string of triple-digit days is earlier than normal, causing North Texans to wonder if they’re in for a memorable summer like 2006, 1998 or, gulp, 1980.

The answer, as best science can predict, is probably not.

Long-range forecasts by the National Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., call for normal temperatures for the bulk of the summer in North Texas — and maybe even wetter weather than normal.

“The model has its limits, but it’s certainly not calling for above-normal temperatures in North Texas this summer,” said Ed O’Lenic, the center’s chief of operations.

“In fact, it looks like more rain than usual in the center of the country, and that area’s not too far from you guys.”

Cling to that thought for awhile, because temperatures are still expected to mount 100 every day until Sunday. By early next week, those highs should drop slightly, to the high 90s, said Bill Bunting of the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office.

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘cool’ exactly, but 98 is better than 103," he said.

Overall, Bunting said, the summer should stay true to a normal pattern for North Texas: triple-digit periods alternating with cooler temperatures, at least as that term is understood in this part of the country.

The weather pattern that sets heat records -- a high-pressure ridge that stubbornly sits over the Dallas area until, and beyond, Labor Day -- doesn’t seem to be in the cards, he said.