May 2026

[Brian5671]

Long duration rainstorm on tap-while it will help the drought the timing is awful.

[psv88]

What drought? I am genuinely confused at drought talk. Last few months:

May ; 3.36" - more to come

April: 2.93"

March: 5:04

Feb: 2.44 ( i dont melt down snow, so i missed some im sure). 

This year has not been dry at all. Last June and July were drier, but the fall was normal to above (5" in October). 

 

[Poker2015]

36 minutes ago, psv88 said:

What drought? I am genuinely confused at drought talk. Last few months:

May ; 3.36" - more to come

April: 2.93"

March: 5:04

Feb: 2.44 ( i dont melt down snow, so i missed some im sure). 

This year has not been dry at all. Last June and July were drier, but the fall was normal to above (5" in October). 

 

Even looking at the drought map, most of the area is barely in a drought. Yes, down south its a little worse in areas but not most of us.

Even before the last couple "dry" years, go back a few more years and we were averaging 3-4" more than normal every year for a while.

It all evens out.

[steve392]

.25" of rain from thunderstorm last night and rain today.  Plants woke up. Hoping grass greens up again quickly. 

[donsutherland1]

Cooler air has now returned to the region. Tomorrow will be variably cloudy and cool with highs topping out in the lower and middle 60s across the region.

Rain will develop on Saturday and continue into Sunday. A general 0.50"-1.50" rainfall is likely. The temperature will likely remain in the 50s all day on Saturday and struggle to reach the lower 60s on Sunday. The mercury will likely return to the lower 70s on Monday.

The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was +1.8°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was +0.9°C for the week centered around May 13. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +1.63°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged +0.70°C. El Niño conditions are now in place. The ongoing El Niño will continue to strengthen through the summer.

The SOI was -15.07 yesterday. 

The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was +0.108 today. 

Based on sensitivity analysis applied to the latest guidance, there is an implied near 66% probability that New York City will have a warmer than normal May (1991-2020 normal). May will likely finish with a mean temperature near 63.8° (0.6° above normal). 

Supplemental Information: The projected mean would be 1.3° above the 1981-2010 normal monthly value. 

 

[winterwx21]

4 hours ago, Brian5671 said:

Long duration rainstorm on tap-while it will help the drought the timing is awful.

I'm glad we're going to get much-needed rain Saturday into Sunday morning. At least Monday doesn't look too bad. We'll have to see how long the rain lingers on Sunday -- some models move it out in time for late day and evening for people that want to cook outside. That's uncertain right now, but of course the one thing that is certain is Saturday is shot. 

[MJO812]

I got a dent on my right side of my car from the fallen tree branches last night

[nycwinter]

55 minutes ago, MJO812 said:

I got a dent on my right side of my car from the fallen tree branches last night

your car or cop car?

[MJO812]

Just now, nycwinter said:

your car or cop car?

My car

[jm1220]

This heat got the water temp off Jones Beach up a whole 3 degrees! Up to 56 today. Still plenty of nastiness available with onshore flow like this weekend. 

[Nibor]

1 hour ago, nycwinter said:

your car or cop car?

Technically the same thing

[MJO812]

Weekend rain from Saturday through Monday.  At least im working Sunday and Monday so no loss for me.

[mjr]

On 5/20/2026 at 3:58 PM, [email protected] said:

Once again, Central Park is running several degrees lower then the rest of the area. Even JFK is running higher this afternoon! This gets worst every year and is an embarrassment at this point! The NWS should take away their classification as the official NYC weather site if the parks conservation isn't willing to either trim vegetation surrounding the sensor or move the sensor back to the pre 1996 site!

In 2025, NYC reported 14 days of 90 or above, pretty much bringing up the rear of the list of stations used for comparison on this site. While most of these locations are in NJ and less susceptible to marine influences, the other NYC stations showed LGA with 26 days and even JFK reported 15. ISP was not far behind.

For a broader comparison, one need only look at New England. Bostn had 19 days, and BDR, the usual hot spot because of its topography, had 24. However, HVN, right on the south shore, reported 15 days and BDR, practically in Long Island Sound, reported 15 as well. This might have been the first time that BDR actually exceeded NYC.

In the past, the comparisons were between NYC, LGA and EWR. In 2025, at least, they were NYC, JFK, ISP and BDR. We may soon need to be looking at Nantucket.

 

[mjr]

On 5/20/2026 at 3:58 PM, [email protected] said:

Once again, Central Park is running several degrees lower then the rest of the area. Even JFK is running higher this afternoon! This gets worst every year and is an embarrassment at this point! The NWS should take away their classification as the official NYC weather site if the parks conservation isn't willing to either trim vegetation surrounding the sensor or move the sensor back to the pre 1996 site!

Central Park NYC is designated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) as a Centennial Observing Station. Mandatory criteria for recognition include, among others, 1. The station was founded at least 100 years ago. 4.Any known observing station relocation or change in the measurement technique have not significantly affected the climatological time-series data. 8. The observed and measured data shall be subject to routine quality control procedures according to current WMO guidelines and practices. These include strict measurement and instrumentation guidelines.

I submit that NYC is not in compliance with guidelines 4 and 8 and the WMO should either insist that something be done or remove the Centennial Observing Station designation. Of course, since the site was moved in 1996, the historical record has been irreparably damaged.

 

[nycwinter]

3 hours ago, MJO812 said:

Weekend rain from Saturday through Monday.  At least im working Sunday and Monday so no loss for me.

if you are a beat cop you would disagree.

[MJO812]

47 minutes ago, nycwinter said:

if you are a beat cop you would disagree.

Im not 

[bluewave]

20 hours ago, jm1220 said:

Hideous. 

Looks like our biggest soaker of the spring so far coming in this weekend.

The heaviest totals on the 20th were pretty localized in parts of Queens and NW Nassau.

This looks more widespread and extended rather than all the rain falling in 1 hour or less like the other day.