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Northeast Regional Climate Center |
The average temperature for May was 3.8 degrees above normal, making it the fourth month in a row with warmer than normal temperatures and the third consecutive month with all states having above normal temperatures. Maine's average was closest to normal, with a positive departure of only 0.4 degrees. The southern states had the greatest departures, ranging from 5.4 degrees in New Jersey to 6.6 degrees in Maryland. Eight of the 12 states in the region were within the top ten warmest in 110 years of record with Maryland and Delaware having their warmest May on record.
Precipitation totals in April averaged 5.03 inches or 126% of normal for the Northeast as a whole, but state totals varied from east to west. Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and southern New England received the least rainfall this month, ranging from 70% of normal in Delaware to 96% of normal in Massachusetts. Rainfall was more plentiful in the remaining states, with totals that ranged from 101% of normal in Maine to 152% of normal in West Virginia. It was the 7th wettest May on record in New York and the 4th wettest in West Virginia.
Warm and moist conditions led to the formation of significant thunderstorms as fronts made their way across the Northeast. Hail, strong, damaging winds and flash floods were reported region-wide, especially from the 21st to the 25th when a cold front pushed south, only to return as a warm front that became stationary near the Pennsylvania-New York border.
Monthly Summary of State Temperature and Precipitation Averages.
