Gloomy May 1-18 in the Twin Cities

Tomato plants were soggy and sunshine was a scarce commodity for the first three weeks in May in the Twin Cities. May 1-18 was the least sunniest start of May since solar records began at the St. Paul Campus Climate Observatory in 1963. As of May 18th the sunshine was only 75% of the long-term average of 43 years. Not only was it gloomy, it was quite wet with measurable rain falling on 10 of 18 days of May. The record of the most days with measurable rain for the entire month of May for the Twin Cities is 20 days set back in 1938.

What was the sunniest May 1-18 since 1963? That award goes to 1992. The sunshine for the first eighteen days in May 1992 was 18% higher than average.

Listed below is a National Weather Service Statement about the gloomy May.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TWIN CITIES/CHANHASSEN MN
445 AM CDT WED JUNE 1 2005

...THE COLDEST WINTER I EVER SPENT WAS THE MAY I SPENT IN MINNEAPOLIS??...

UNLESS YOU WERE ON VACATION OR LIVING UNDER A SHAMROCK DURING THE
MONTH OF MAY...YOU ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT WELL AWARE THAT IT WAS A VERY
COOL MONTH. HOWEVER...YOU MAY NOT KNOW THAT THE MINNEAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT 
FAILED TO PRODUCE AT LEAST ONE 80 DEGREE HIGH TEMPERATURE...OR HIGHER DURING THIS TIME FRAME. 
THERE WERE ONLY 7 OTHER MAYS DURING THE PERIOD 1891-PRESENT WHERE THE THERMOMETER FAILED TO 
REACH THIS SUMMERLIKE TEMPERATURE. THE FOLLOWING LIST ACKNOWLEDGES THOSE YEARS...AND RANKS 
THEM BY THEIR AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE. TO REINFORCE HOW RARE IT IS NOT TO GET AN 
80 DEGREE OR HIGHER TEMPERATURE IN MAY...THERE HAVE ONLY BEEN TWO OCCURRENCES OF SUCH 
DURING THE PAST 70 YEARS!  BY THE WAY...BOTH EAU CLAIRE AND ST
CLOUD MANAGED TO GENERATE AT LEAST ONE 80 DEGREE TEMPERATURE DURING
THE PAST MONTH.


....MAYS WITHOUT AN 80 DEGREE HIGH TEMPERATURE OR GREATER.....


           YEAR                      AVERAGE TEMPERATURE

1.          1924                            50.4
2.          1892                            51.7
3.          1905                            54.2
4.          1893                            54.5
5.          1983                            54.6    
6.          1910                            54.8
7.          1935                            54.9
8.          2005                            56.4

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URL: http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/gloomy0505.htm
Last modified: June 1, 2005