May you fickle May, June you Fickle June!

So there goes yet another DRY month. I can't remember the last time I recorded a month with at least average precipitation. So I had to look it up. It was February and March of 2017 when 9.41 inches and 7.45 inches respectively fell into my rain gauge. Some of that fell in the form of snow (.55 inches snow). Since then it has been dry, dry, and a little bit dry.

At some point our weather pattern should return to the soggy days of old. Temps have been on the up trend as well and last month was no exception. My local temps were about 2° above my established "norms" both overnight and daytime highs. 

Honestly this last month did not feel "warmer" than average. I think the mini heat-wave near the start of the month skewed the averages, because there was a fair amount of cloud cover and a great deal of typical May weather last month.

As far as temps go, I recorded two days that were personal daily records, May 9-10, when I recorded 85.8° and 89.2° respectively. These were two of the four days that topped out above 80°. The 89.2° mark on the 10th was the high for the month, well short of my May record of 95.3° set back in 2008. The warmest overnight low arrived on the 27th. The coldest temp was measured on the first day of the month with a nippy 37.6°, one of two mornings to dip into the thirties. The chilliest daytime high was a cool 54.7° on the 25th which was a rather damp day. All told there were 15 days with overnight temps under 50° and 26 days that were above 60°.

On the precipitation side of the equation it was in a word, dry. We had 15 days with mostly sunshine and 6 days with some rain. The wettest day was a modest 0.51 inches on the 19th which was one of only two days to spill more than a 1/4 inch.

May and June often struggle to find their weather place. These two months can deliver genuine summer type heat waves as well as chilly temps nearly reminiscent of winter. We never really know what these two months will bring so we must be prepared for anything. This year June has decided to start off with a taste of summer. As I wrap this article up it is 1:30 and the temp is at 76° probably on its way to an 80° or so late this afternoon. Ah yes, delightful :) But don't let Miss Spring get into your head, our local neighbor, Portland, OR has a Rose Festival to run; and it just wouldn't be a Rose Festival without some cool and damp weather. Miss Spring will likely oblige.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

April Showers Bring...Bland?

April is done and it was a bit bland. We did have those ever so necessary April Showers, but not like we normally get. We continued this extended run of dry months. There were no temperature surprises; just a couple of nice days, and one pretty nippy morning for April.

The rain bucket was well under my established normal of 4.24 inches with a barely over half of average, 2.28 inches. I measured 4 days with a 1/4 inch or more rain the wettest day being the 7th with 0.41 inch. 11 days with some precip and 7 days of mostly sunshine. No snowfall last month and that is typical for April.

Temps were slightly above average by day rough +1 and a bit toasty by night at +3. The warmest day was the 18th when the merc busted out a 75.4° the chilliest daytime high come on the 13th when the thermometer failed to reach 50° topping out at 49.8°. The coldest overnight low was a chilly 33.6 on the morn of the 28th. That's a bit late for a frost event, but there it was. The warmest overnight was the 57.7° on the 1st and that is no foolin' 8 days dipped into the thirties overnight while four days popped up above 70°.

That was a quiet April and now we move into the sweet spot for spring. Sure May can be wet, but it is rarely cold, so the second half of spring is ready to rock so get ready for some great weather.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.