A snowball bush is in full bloom against a beautiful blue May sky
OSWEGO, NY – May had a cool start but a warm ending, according to Bill Gregway, local observer for the National Weather Service.
The average temperature for May 2016 was 56.6 degrees.
That is 0.7-degree warmer than average.
“I was a little surprised,” Gregway said. “I really expected it to be a cooler month. Right up until the last 10 days it was chilly and then things turned around. A lot of blossoms held back and then everything really came on all at once.”
The highest temperature was 85 degrees on the 28th and the lowest was 35 degrees on the 10th.
There were no records set.
May had 4 days where the high was in the 80s – 4 in a row.
There were also 4 days when it was in the 70s.
The overnight low dipped into the 30s 5 times.
It never got below freezing, Gregway said, adding that the last frost (32 degrees or below) was on April 14th.
Total precipitation for May was 1.77 inches. That is 1.53 inches below where it should be.
“It was a dry month. A real dry month,” Gregway said. “It’s the driest since 2007 (1.45 inches).”
At the end of May, precipitation for the year stands at 13.90 inches. That is 2.38 inches below average.
The greatest precipitation in a 24-hour period was just 0.30-inch on the 6th.
Measurable precipitation fell on 11 days with a pair of 3 days in a row.
There were no days of just a trace.
No precipitation was measured on 20 days. That included streaks of 6, 4 and another pair of 3 days in a row.
There were no thunderstorms, which is 3 below average.
And, there were 2 foggy days, which is normal.
The number of cloudy days, 9, was 3 below average.
The number of partly cloudy days, 14, was 4 above average.
The number of clear days, 8, was 1 below average.
The area saw 58 percent of the possible amount of sunshine. That is 3 percentages above average.
The highest barometric pressure was 30.28 on the 10th and the 20th. The lowest was 29.55 on the 14th.
There wasn’t much in the way of high winds last month, Gregway noted.
“Only 5 times were the winds greater than 20 mph. There were 4 straight days where it was greater than 25 mph (13th to 16th),” he said. “The strongest winds were west-northwesterly at greater than 30 mph on the 15th, right after our lowest barometric pressure.”
In 2015, May was 5.8 degrees warmer than normal. It was the 4th warmest since 1854, Gregway noted.
The high and low (88 and 36) were very similar to this year, he added.
“We had just about average precip and the sunshine (4 percentages above average) was nearly the same as this year’s,” he said. “The strongest wind was west-northwesterly greater than 30 mph.”
The warmest May is May 2012 – 62.7 degrees.
The coldest May on record is 46.4 degrees in 1917.
The highest temperature in May is 94 degrees on May 30, 1879. The coldest is 27 degrees on May 10, 1883.
May 1931 is the wettest with 7.47 inches. The driest is 0.18-inch in 1920.
The snowiest is 1907 – 1.0 inch.
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