OSWEGO, NY – May 2008 goes into the record book cool and dry.
The average temperature last month was 52.9 degrees.
That’s 3.1 degrees cooler than it should be, according to Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service.
The highest temperature was 77 degrees on the 26th and the lowest was 32 degrees on the 1st.
“That 32 was also our last frost,” Gregway said, adding that there were no temperature records set in May.
There were 5 days when the high was 70 degrees or above; but no readings in the 80s.
There were 5 days when the overnight low was in the 30s.
“We also had two days where the high temperature never got out of the 40s,” Gregway said. “It wasn’t a real good month.”
Precipitation for May was 1.96 inches. That’s 1.21 inches below average.
“That’s not that big of a deal,” Gregway noted. “In the past 40 years, it’s only the 9th driest.”
The wettest May on record is 7.47 inches in 1931. The driest is 0.18-inch in 1920.
Total precipitation since the first of the year stands at 19.70 inches. That is 3.23 inches above normal.
“We’re still on the plus side thanks to February and March,” Gregway explained. “February because of all the snow and March was a lot of rain. That added precip has since dried up. We’ll have to see what June brings.”
There were no thunderstorms in May, which is 3 below average.
There were no foggy days last month, which is 2 below average.
Usually, May receives at least a trace of snow. There was none last month.
For the winter, snowfall wound up at 160.2 inches. That’s 9.4 inches above normal.
May had 12 days of measurable precipitation, 3 were in a row.
There were 3 days with just a trace.
There were 16 days with no precipitation, 5 were consecutive.
The area saw 53 percent of the total amount possible of sunshine.
That is 6 percentages below normal.
The number of cloudy days, 11, was 1 below average.
The number of partly cloudy days, 15, was 4 above average.
The number of clear days, 5, was 4 below average.
The highest barometric pressure was 30.33 on the 28th and the lowest was 29.31 on the 18th.
The strongest winds of the month, westerly at greater than 30 mph, followed the low pressure on the 19th.
There were also 6 days where the wind speeds topped 20 mph, Gregway added.
“It was a cool and dry month. That’s about it,” Gregway observed.
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