NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY
MAY 2022
1-7:
A southward shift in the primary storm track brought drier weather to the
north-central U.S.
Warm,
mostly dry weather in many other areas, including the Southwest and much of the
Southeast.
The
nation’s drought-stricken southwestern quadrant, stretching from California to
the southern High Plains, continued to deal with a variety of impacts, including
watersupply issues, poor rangeland and crop conditions, and dangerous
early-season wildfires. In addition, a late-week heat surge sent temperatures
skyrocketing to 100°F or higher across much of western, central, and southern
Texas, further aggravating the effects of an already punishing drought. Weekly
temperatures averaged 5 to 10°F above normal from the southern half of Texas to
Georgia and the Carolinas. In contrast, chilly air across the nation’s
mid-section—accompanied by clouds and widespread rain—held temperatures at least
5°F below normal from the central Plains into the central Corn Belt. Cool
weather lingered early in the week across the Northeast, where Trenton, NJ,
logged a daily-record low of 35°F on May 1. Meanwhile, cool, cloudy weather
prevailed beneath the first of two storm systems crossing the central Plains and
the lower Midwest.
On May
2 in Nebraska, Omaha reported a maximum temperature of 45°F, while Grand Island
received 1.2 inches of snow. The only later spring accumulations in Grand Island
occurred on May 28, 1947, when 4.5 inches fell, and May 3, 1967, with 4.3
inches. Chilly air also settled across parts of the West, where daily-record
lows included 27°F (on May 3) in Montague, CA, and 15°F (on May 5) in Alamosa,
CO. During the mid- to late-week period, heat began to build across the South,
where Greenwood, MS, notched a daily-record high (90°F) on May 4. The following
day in Florida, record-tying highs for May 5 rose to 96°F in Orlando and 91°F in
Miami. Daily records were also tied in Miami on May 6 and 7, with the high
reaching 93°F both days. Elsewhere in Florida, Fort Lauderdale closed the week
with consecutive daily-record highs (91 and 93°F, respectively), while
record-setting highs for May 6 soared to 95°F in Fort Pierce and Vero Beach.
Farther west, late-week heat pushed temperatures to 100°F or higher in parts of
the south-central U.S. In Abilene, TX, a string of triple-digit days began on
May 6 and included a trio of daily-record highs (107, 107, and 103°F) from May
7-9. San Angelo, TX, also registered a daily-record high of 107°F on May 7. In
other parts of Texas, record-setting highs for May 7 included 106°F in
Childress, 103°F in Midland, and 102°F in Lubbock and Borger. Periodic high
winds in the Southwest continued to fan several large blazes, including the
204,000-acre Calf Canyon Fire, which joined with an escaped prescribed burn
(Hermits Peak Fire) to become the secondlargest wildfire in modern New Mexico
history. New Mexico’s largest fire, the Whitewater-Baldy Complex, charred about
298,000 acres of vegetation in Gila National Forest in May-July 2012. By May 10,
the Calf Canyon Fire—burning northwest of Las Vegas, NM—had destroyed nearly 400
structures and was less than 50 percent contained.
8-14:
Weekly temperatures averaged at least 10 to 15°F above normal from the southern
Plains into the Great Lakes region. Warmth also spilled into northern New
England, where temperatures generally averaged 5 to 10°F above normal.
During
the second half of the week, however, scattered showers and thunderstorms
returned across the Midwest, with parts of the western Corn Belt experiencing a
damaging derecho on May 12. Meanwhile, cool, showery weather prevailed in the
Northwest, with frost occurring in some areas between precipitation events. In
fact, below-normal temperatures covered the West—except the southern Rockies—and
the northern High Plains. Readings averaged more than 10°F below normal at
scattered locations in the western Great Basin and interior Northwest. Some of
the week’s most significant precipitation fell in the Pacific Northwest, as well
as eastern Montana, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. Farther south, however,
seasonably dry weather persisted in the Southwest. By mid-May, the Calf Canyon /
Hermits Peak Fire became New Mexico’s largest modern wildfire, with nearly
300,000 acres of vegetation burned and more than 600 structures destroyed.
Elsewhere, widely scattered showers and thunderstorms provided negligible
drought relief on the central and southern Plains but resulted in only minor
fieldwork delays in the South and East.
Early-week freezes were common in the Far West, where Mount Shasta City, CA,
opened the week with a pair of daily-record lows (27 and 22°F, respectively) on
May 8-9. On the same dates, Alturas, CA (19 and 14°F, respectively) also scored
two daily-record lows. In California’s Central Valley, Stockton (37°F) and
Sacramento (39°F) notched record-setting lows for May 10. Sacramento noted
another daily-record low (38°F) on May 11. With a low of 8°F on the 10th, West
Yellowstone, MT, also registered a daily-record low. By May 11-12, another surge
of cool air delivered consecutive daily-record lows (17 and 18°F, respectively)
in Ely, NV. Other Western locations reporting freezes and daily-record lows
included Klamath Falls, OR (21°F on May 11); Winslow, AZ (29°F on May 12); and
Hillsboro, OR (32°F on May 13). In stark contrast, earlyseason heat spread
northeastward from southern sections of the Rockies and Plains. In Texas,
record-setting highs for May 8 surged to 107°F in Abilene and Childress. Abilene
reported 8 days with highs of 100°F or greater during the first half of the
month, breaking its May record of 7 such readings, set in 1927 and 2000. In New
Mexico, Roswell posted five consecutive triple-digit readings from May 7-11. As
heat shifted, Madison, WI, reported four consecutive highs of 90°F or greater
(from May 10-13) before June 1 for only the second time on record, along with
May 26-29, 2018. On the 12th, La Crosse, WI, recorded a high of 96°F and a low
of 75°F, marking its second-highest average temperature on any May day behind
only May 31, 1934 (high of 107°F and low of 69°F). Traverse City, MI, set a
monthly record with a high of 96°F on May 12 (previously, 95°F on May 29, 2018,
and several earlier dates). Elsewhere in Michigan, Muskegon tallied a trio of
daily-record highs (87, 91, and 89°F) from May 11-13. With a high of 97°F on the
13th, Little Rock, AR, experienced its warmest day in May since 2012, when it
was 97°F on May 29. The only hotter days during May in Little Rock occurred on
May 26, 1964, and May 31, 1998, when highs reached 98°F. Heat also spread into
New England, where Caribou, ME (90°F on May 13) noted its secondearliest day
with 90-degree heat, behind only May 9, 1979.
15-21:
Dry weather prevailed from California to the southern High Plains, further
stressing rangeland, pastures, winter grains, and rain-fed summer crops. In
Texas and environs, extreme heat compounded the effects of worsening drought,
while numerous early-season wildfires continued to burn in New Mexico and
portions of neighboring states. Weekly temperatures averaged more than 10°F
above normal in parts of Texas, while a broader area across the southern and
eastern U.S. experienced temperatures averaging at least 5°F above normal.
Elsewhere, readings locally averaged more than 5°F below normal from the Pacific
Northwest into the upper Great Lakes region. In advance of an approaching storm
system, early-week Southwestern temperatures soared. On May 15, triple-digit,
dailyrecord highs included 107°F in Imperial, CA, and 105°F in Tucson, AZ.
Meanwhile, persistently hot weather gripped the south-central U.S., where highs
of 99°F or greater were reported in Abilene, TX, each day from May 6-20. During
that 15-day period, Abilene noted 12 days with triple-digit heat (highs ranging
from 100 to 107°F). Prior to this year, Abilene had never experienced more than
7 days in May with 100-degree heat. Elsewhere in Texas, Midland tallied highs
ranging from 100 to 103°F each day from May 14-19, while San Angelo registered
highs ranging from 100 to 107°F on 8 consecutive days from May 13-20. San Angelo
tied a 1927 record with 12 triple-digit high temperatures during May. Heat on
the southern High Plains generally peaked on May 17 or 19, with highs on the
former date reaching 105°F in Guymon, OK, and 101°F in Amarillo, TX. By May 19,
highs soared to 107°F in Childress, TX, and 104°F in Hobart, OK. That marked the
highest May temperature in Childress since May 8, 2011, when it was also 107°F.
Farther north, a daily-record high (96°F on May 19) in Grand Island, NE,
occurred less than 48 hours before a hard freeze struck western Nebraska. May
21-22 featured consecutive daily-record lows (28 and 24°F, respectively) in
Sidney, NE. Elsewhere in Nebraska, record-setting lows for May 22 plunged to
19°F in Alliance, 23°F in Chadron, and 27°F in North Platte. Freezes (and
daily-record lows) were also observed during the cool spell in locations such as
Pocatello, ID (26°F on May 21); Grand Junction, CO (29°F on May 21); and Sioux
City, IA (30°F on May 22). Western daily-record lows also included 21°F (on May
20) in Burns, OR; 18°F (on May 21) in Rawlins, WY; and 17°F (on May 22) in Ely,
NV. In Montana, consecutive daily-record lows were set on May 21-22 in Chinook
(29 and 25°F) and Havre (27 and 22°F). In contrast, late-week heat surged into
the East, where record-setting highs for May 20 rose to 99°F in Fayetteville,
NC, and 97°F in Richmond, VA. Richmond collected another daily-record high
(95°F) on May 21. Northeastern daily-record highs for the 21st included 95°F in
Philadelphia, PA, and 90°F in Montpelier, VT. In Texas, Galveston closed the
week with four consecutive daily-record highs (90, 90, 91, and 92°F) from May
18-21—and experienced its highest minimum temperature on record in May, with a
low of 82°F on the 21st.
Gusty
winds continued to fan Southwestern wildfires. In New Mexico, May 16 gusts were
clocked to 60 mph in Raton and 59 mph in Clayton. New Mexico’s largest modern
wildfire, the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire, northwest of Las Vegas, grew to
more than 310,000 acres, with more than 700 structures destroyed. Another
wildfire, the 155,000-acre Black Fire, grew rapidly northwest of Truth or
Consequences, NM.
22-28:
Cool, showery conditions in the Northwest contrasted with worsening drought from
California into the Southwest. In southwestern New Mexico, the Black Fire
rapidly grew to more than 250,000 acres. However, cooler weather and a few
showers moved into northeastern New Mexico, where containment of the state’s
largest modern wildfire (the 315,627-acre Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire)
increased to 50 percent. Weekly temperatures averaged 5 to 10°F below normal
from the southern Plains into the upper Midwest. Coolerthan-normal conditions
also extended into the Rockies, the mid-South, and parts of the Northwest.
Conversely, weekly readings averaged at least 5°F above normal in parts of
California and New England. As the week began, frost and freezes extended into
the upper Midwest, including much of Nebraska and western Iowa. Selected
daily-record lows for May 22 included 19°F in Alliance, NE; 22°F in Havre, MT;
and 30°F in Sioux City, IA. Cool weather also covered parts of the West. In
Laramie, WY, consecutive daily-record lows (26°F both days) occurred on May
24-25.
By the
26th, heat briefly overspread the Intermountain West, where daily-record highs
included 94°F in Salt Lake City, UT, and 90°F in Pocatello, ID. Late in the
week, heat returned across the south-central U.S. In coastal Texas, daily-record
highs surged to 98°F (on May 26) in Victoria and 93°F (on May 27) in Galveston.
Triple-digit heat arrived in much of the western half of Texas on May 28, when
daily-record highs soared to 108°F in Childress, 105°F in Borger, and 104°F in
Amarillo. In New Mexico, Roswell (106°F) and Tucumcari (103°F) also logged
triple-digit, daily-record highs for May 28. Abilene and San Angelo, TX, each
experienced 14 days of 100-degree heat during May, breaking records (7 and 12
days, respectively) originally set in 1927. The late-week heat surge briefly
spread as far north as Nebraska, where Scottsbluff’s dailyrecord high (96°F on
May 27) occurred less than 31 hours after the temperature fell to 36°F on the
morning of the 26th.
Jim G. Munley, jr.
http://www.jimmunleywx.com
