Because of an exceedingly busy schedule, computer upgrades, and the snowmelt contest, I haven’t had the time to blog much in the past few weeks, and because of that I was unable to blog a May review. Here it is today (in the middle of June, ha).
May was above normal by about 4.5 degrees, which continues a trend that start in October of last year. Before October of last year, we had been on quite a trend of cool (below normal) months, then it turned warm. October and November of 2011 were about 4 degrees above normal. The Winter was one of the warmest in recent memory with each month from December through February about 6 degrees above normal. March was a blockbuster as temps were a record 15 degrees above normal. April was the “coolest” month as of late as temps were only about 2 degrees above normal. Since things go in cycles, I would doubt we will have a couple of below normal months later this Summer or into the Fall, but that is just a hunch. What would be perfect is if July or August ended up a little below normal. Most people wouldn’t mind warm, but not oppressively hot temps in the Summer. If temps were a degree or two below normal in July and August, then most days would have highs in the upper 70 to near 80, which is a nice range for Summer in Wisconsin. No doubt we will have some 90 degree days, I just hope there are not too many.
May Flowers
A good thing about the month of May is that precipitation was above normal by almost a half inch. In retrospect, the rain was crucial in preventing a significant drought from happening, because it has been quite dry for the last couple of weeks.
Temperatures showed some wide swings but there was no official frost in Wausau. The coldest temperature was 36. Even though there was no frost in Wausau, there were a few nights where frost did occur outside of the city and in the Northwoods. A frost advisory was posted for much of the area as late as the 31st. The last official frost of the season in Wausau was a low of 27 way back on the 27th of April. The warmest in May was 88 and on that day some spots in the southern part of the area did hit 90 for the first 90 degree readings of the year.
The was one record during the month – a record high of 88 on the 19th. Other than that, I didn’t notice any odds trends in the highs and lows. Here are the official stats for Wausau in May of 2012:
Average High: 72.7 (Normal: 67.0)
Average Low: 47.4 (Normal: 44.2)
Precipitation: 3.91 inches (Normal: 3.47 inches)
Snowfall: 0.0 inches (Normal: 0.20 inches)
Highest Temperature: 88 on the 19th.
Lowest Temperature: 36 on the 10th
Have a pleasant Thursday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.
Posted under Monthly Recap
This post was written by jloew on June 14, 2012
Let’s not wish summer away before it has had a chance to start. One persons oppressivly hot is anothers just right. I have heard people complain about the heat when its 78 degrees! I haven’t heard much anywhere about the record low Stevens Point had and the tie Rhinelander had Wednesday morning with their record low. I suspect if it had been on the high side then it would be all over the news.
I have heard people complain about the heat AND use air conditioning when the temperature was 74! Yikes. I don’t like too many 90 or above days, especially several consecutive days in the 90s, during the Summer, but 80s, even when it is humid, is generally fine by me.