May 2026

[NEG NAO]

[FPizz]

2 hours ago, Voyager said:

I dealt with that living in AZ for a time, and it really isn't a big deal. Big positive. Not having to go around the house changing clocks.

That takes up about 3 minutes of your life total, unless you own a clock/watch store, then you have a little work to do for a day between customers every few hours.

[FPizz]

15 minutes ago, the_other_guy said:

I find that hard to believe. Outside our 4-5 days of heat in March April and May, this hasnt been a particularly warm or pleasant spring. Cool, cloudy, misty, windy are adjectives I would use

March and April were solidly above normal.  

[SACRUS]

72 / 66 clouds rain / showers just to the south.  Cluds look to perist all day and pushing temps below forecast likely.   Dry and cool and its still a matter of escaping clouds/ unsettled -ness from the strong cut off / ULL into the northeast first Saturday and then next Tuesday.  Untill then cooler than normal and models would have you believe dry, but id be weary of at least Sat and next Tue for rain.  Beyond then much warmer as ridge finally pushes east and a more sw flow, next shot at heat in the 6/4 - beyond period.

 

[SACRUS]

Records:

Highs:

EWR: 97 (1965)
NYC: 96 (1880) record early season heatwave continued on 
LGA: 92 (1965)
JFK: 86 (1985)


Lows:

EWR: 43 (1967)
NYC: 41 (1961)
LGA: 41 (1961)
JFK: 42 (1961)

Historical:

 

1771: In Virginia, a wall of water came roaring down the James River Valley following ten to twelve days of intense rain. As water swept through Richmond, buildings, boats, animals, and vegetation were lost. About one hundred fifty people were killed as the River reached a flood stage of forty-five feet above normal. A monument to the flood was inscribed by Ryland Randolph, of Curles, in 1771-72: " ... all the great rivers of this country were swept by inundations never before experienced which changed the face of nature and left traces of violence that will remain for ages."

 

1826: A tremendous hail storm struck the eastern shore of Maryland during the evening damaging wheat and vegetable crops from Hillsborough in Caroline County to Easton in Talbot County. One person was killed. Between the Severn and Patapsco Rivers, hail the size of eggs fell. Across the bay in Calvert County, a man was killed by hail.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1896 - A massive tornado struck Saint Louis, MO, killing 306 persons and causing thirteen million dollars damage. The tornado path was short, but cut across a densely populated area. It touched down six miles west of Eads Bridge in Saint Louis and widened to a mile as it crossed into East Saint Louis. The tornado was the most destructive of record in the U.S. up until that time. It pierced a five-eighths inch thick iron sheet with a two by four inch pine plank. A brilliant display of lightning accompanied the storm. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)

1909: Bakersfield, CA reached 104°; their hottest temperature for May which featured 12 days with triple digit temperatures, the most ever for that location. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1914: Boston, MA recorded its warmest ever low temperature of 74 °F for May. (Ref. NOAA Boston Weather Events)
 

1973: A large F4 tornado cut a 135-mile path across central Alabama. Hardest hit was the town of Brent where five people perished and 90% of the town was demolished. Seven people died along the path of the twister. Cancelled checks from Greensboro, AL were found at Gadsden, AL, over 100 miles away. Another killer tornado struck Centerpoint on the northeast side of Birmingham, killing one person. One person was killed and 35 people were injured when an F3 tornado stormed across Jones County, Mississippi. Another 3 people were injured when an F2 tornado swept across Clarke County. A second F2 tornado also moved across Scott County that evening.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

 

1987 - Severe thunderstorms in West Texas produced baseball size hail at Crane, hail up to three and a half inches in diameter at Post, and grapefruit size hail south of Midland. Five days of flooding commenced in Oklahoma. Thunderstorms produced 7 to 9 inches of rain in central Oklahoma. Oklahoma City reported 4.33 inches of rain in six hours. Up to six inches of rain caused flooding in north central Texas. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1988 - Sunny and warm weather prevailed across much of the nation to kick off the Memorial Day weekend. Afternoon thunderstorms in southern Florida caused the mercury at Miami to dip to a record low reading of 69 degrees. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1989 - Unseasonably hot weather prevailed in the southeastern U.S. Ten cities reported record high temperatures for the date as readings soared into the 90s. Lakeland, FL, reported a record high of 99 degrees, and Biloxi, MS, reported a temperature of 90 degrees along with a relative humidity of 75 percent. (The National Weather Summary)

1990 - Thunderstorms produced severe weather from north central Texas to the Central Gulf Coast Region. Severe thunderstorms spawned four tornadoes, and there were eighty-one reports of large hail or damaging winds. Late afternoon thunderstorms over southeast Louisiana produced high winds which injured twenty-seven persons at an outdoor music concert in Baton Rouge, and high winds which gusted to 78 mph at the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

1991: From this date through the 28th, severe thunderstorms produced wind gusts of over 80 mph with numerous reports of over 60 mph. However, the real threat with these storms was the hail. Over 1,000 nesting birds were killed by falling hail at La Creek Refuge in Bennett County. Softball size hail was reported just north of Artesian in Sanborn County, and near Arlington in Kingsbury County. The hail completely destroyed a grain bin near Arlington. Many areas had golf ball size hail or larger. Many homes had windows knocked out and roofs damaged. The storms produced millions of dollars in damage. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1992: Late record snow in CHEYENNE, WY measured 4.3 inches.

1995: A violent tornado moved from near Carroll to near Fonda, Iowa. Carroll County was also clipped by another violent tornado which moved from near Coon Rapids to near Churdan, Iowa. This tornado picked up a car and tossed it more than a quarter-mile into a field. One student's homework papers were found some 55 miles away in the town of Gilmore City. The Iowa State Patrol closed off a four mile section of the interstate to allow the half-mile wide tornado to pass. Greene, Adair, Carroll, Guthrie, Sac and Union counties were declared disaster areas. Some damage estimates included $2 million dollars in Greene County, $1.2 million in Carrol and Union Counties, $828,000 in Adair County and $642,000 in Sac County. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1997: An F5 tornado killed 27 people in Jarrell, Texas. Although tornado warnings were issued 30 minutes in advance and local sirens were sounded, there were few places to go for safety. Most homes were on slabs, with no basements. Houses were swept clean off their foundations, with little debris left behind. Total damage was $20 million. The same thunderstorm complex produced a wind gust to 122 mph at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.

 

2001: This day brought one of the most destructive and widespread windstorms to much of Oklahoma and north Texas in recent memory. These storms left one person dead, 4 injured, 160,000 people without power and over $350 million dollars in damage in Oklahoma alone. Several non-tornadic wind reports in excess of 100 mph were recorded, and it took nearly a week to restore power to all of the affected areas

[winterwarlock]

22 hours ago, Brian5671 said:

No one wants an hour less of sunlight in the evenings in the summer with that scenario.  Sunset in NYC would be at 7:30 vs 8:30pm.

Bingo

 

Going to permanent standard time would be terrible causing a massive cultural shift

 

Im fine where it is..solves both issues..its not a big deal to change clocks

[Brian5671]

1 minute ago, winterwarlock said:

Bingo

 

Going to permanent standard time would be terrible causing a massive cultural shift

Part of the reason neither solution works-it's what we are used to for the last 60 years.   

[winterwarlock]

On 5/25/2026 at 9:17 PM, SnoSki14 said:

By every account standard time wins. We tried permanent DST before and it failed on every level. 

No

 

Makes zero sense to be dark at 7-730 in summer

[forkyfork]

adjust the time zones so that we all get noon sunrises thx

[Picard]

1 hour ago, FPizz said:

That takes up about 3 minutes of your life total, unless you own a clock/watch store, then you have a little work to do for a day between customers every few hours.

I think there's a laziness component to this issue, like other things, some people don't want to/can't perform relatively simple tasks like adjusting clocks.  I  think we have the best of both worlds the way it is now - extra daylight in summer evenings and enough daylight on winter mornings.   If we change it, fine, but it wouldn't be on my Top 10 list of priorities for this country.

[psv88]

Most clocks are WiFi anyway and change automatically. It’s not 1960

[SnoSki14]

1 hour ago, winterwarlock said:

No

 

Makes zero sense to be dark at 7-730 in summer

Permanent DST has been tried and failed. 830-9 dark mornings in the winter are terrible for kids, pedestrians, etc.

Far worse than it getting darker at 730 in July 

[TJW014]

Soupy out. DP up to 72

[psv88]

Ha more rain. Much needed 

[NEG NAO]

Never too early to look ahead to next winter 26 -27

[Brian5671]

3 minutes ago, NEG NAO said:

Never too early to look ahead to next winter 26 -27

Nino climo maps there.  But agree it's likely to be a torch

[NEG NAO]

Started a June thread if anyone is interested - should start getting a handle on how the summer will turn out with the developing strong Nino - should be interesting.

 

[nycwinter]

56 minutes ago, Brian5671 said:

Nino climo maps there.  But agree it's likely to be a torch

good all we need is enough cold air and a juicy southern storm coming up the coast and bam we get a blizzard like we did in  2016 during a super el nino.

[Brian5671]

2 minutes ago, nycwinter said:

good all we need is enough cold air and a juicy southern storm coming up the coast and bam we get a blizzard like we did in  2016 during a super el nino.

That's my hope.  Otherwise it's a 2-3 week winter-cold air will be quite limited most likely

[WX-PA]

Strong Nino's are usually warm with a chance of one blizzard like 83. and 2016..Some strong Nino's you don't get that storm..example 1973,and 1998..It's usually active with storms and precip but there is no cold air.

[bluewave]

Shifting back to the over the top warming pattern with temperatures approaching 100° in Montana and cooler to the south.

 

 

[BobbyHolikWillFindYou]

Soup du jour out there. My office's AC has been cranking all day. Even more than last week.

[the_other_guy]

4 hours ago, NEG NAO said:

Never too early to look ahead to next winter 26 -27

Disaster of a winter inbound

[donsutherland1]

It will then turn somewhat cooler for tomorrow through the weekend. The first week of June could also see temperatures average somewhat below normal to near noraml.

The ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly was +2.1°C and the Region 3.4 anomaly was +1.0°C for the week centered around May 20. For the past six weeks, the ENSO Region 1+2 anomaly has averaged +1.72°C and the ENSO Region 3.4 anomaly has averaged +0.83°C. The ongoing El Niño will continue to strengthen through the summer.

The SOI was -6.34 today. 

The preliminary Arctic Oscillation (AO) was +0.625 today. 

Based on sensitivity analysis applied to the latest guidance, there is an implied near 73% probability that New York City will have a warmer than normal May (1991-2020 normal). May will likely finish with a mean temperature near 63.6° (0.4° above normal). 

Supplemental Information: The projected mean would be 1.1° above the 1981-2010 normal monthly value. 

 

[Euripides]

Oh boy as a surprise watering from a thunderstorm that popped up and is rolling through.

[psv88]

Sneaky high of 83 this evening. Was a great evening for a round of golf

[bluewave]

A top 10 warmest spring for many and some areas also top 10 driest.

 

 

[dieselbug]

On 5/25/2026 at 9:20 PM, Picard said:

One of the big issues that I'm not sure people realize would be sunrises of nearly 8:30 am during the shortest days of the year.

I agree 8:30 sounds strange even thinking about that. However, I think its a good trade off to prevent those dreaded 4:30 pm sunsets. I get out of work at 4:30 so my opinion is slightly biased.

[SACRUS]

77 / 52 a gorgeous day.  Overall cut off city but can we evade the worst of it.  Overall cooler to much below normal - especiallhy Saturday and the Tue-Wed periods as sharp ULL moves through the northeast.   Ill still be shocked if Saturday isnt somewhat cloudy and spritzy. Ridge pushes east once past 6/4 and moderation to warmer overall beyond there and next chance of heat - especially in western areas / N>J

 

 

[SACRUS]

Records:

Highs:

EWR: 96 (2016)
NYC: 94 (1959)
LGA: 92 (2016)
JFK: 91 (1991)


Lows:

EWR: 42 (1961)
NYC: 43 (1961)
LGA: 44 (1961)
JFK: 44 (1961)


Historical:

1809: Three tornadoes crossed through the town of Cincinnati, OH and then traveled up the Ohio valley. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1877 - A "terrific" two day long sandstorm (sand) blasted Yuma, AZ. (28th-29th) (The Weather Channel)

1880: Savoy, TX was hit by an F4 tornado. 14 people were killed and 60 others were injured. It leveled the entire business and northeast residential sections. The tornado was described as "a funnel blazing with balls of fire".
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

 

1896: F3 tornadoes skipped through Montgomery and Bucks counties in Pennsylvania, then across Mercer and Monmouth counties in New Jersey from south of Ambler, to Jarrrettstown south of Hatboro, near Langhorne, then crossed the Delaware River, 4 miles south of Trenton, NJ. Damage was done to businesses at White Horse and Allentown, NJ. Losses totaled over $200,000 dollars. At least 16 barns were destroyed and all of the 4 deaths may have been in barns or stables, 2 in each Pennsylvania County. 15 other people were injured. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

1941: Record maximum temperature for Washington DC. for the date is 97 °F. (Ref. Washington Weather Records - KDCA)
The earliest 100 °F reading for Richmond International Airport and the highest temperature recorded in May. (Ref. Richmond Weather Records - KRIC)
 

1942 - The latest snowstorm of record for the state of Iowa left ten inches at LeMars, eight inches at Cherokee, and 7.5 inches at Waukon. Afternoon highs were in the lower 30s in parts of northwestern Iowa. (The Weather Channel)

1947 - A storm produced heavy snow across Wisconsin, with ten inches reported at Gay Mills. The snow damaged fruit and other trees, and downed power lines. The storm was followed by the coldest weather of the month for much of the High Plains Region and Missouri Valley. Williston ND reported a low of 21 degrees the morning of the 28th, and the next morning Cheyenne WY reported a morning low of 16 above zero. (David Ludlum)


1973: Two F3 tornadoes touched down during the afternoon in Morris County, New Jersey, with an F1 reported in Berks County, Pennsylvania. One of the New Jersey tornadoes injured 12 people. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
 

1987 - Thunderstorms produced torrential rains in Oklahoma and northern Texas. Lake Altus, OK, was deluged with nine inches of rain. Up to eight inches drenched northern Texas, and baseball size hail was reported north of Seminole and at Knickerbocker. Ten to 13 inch rains soaked central Oklahoma the last five days of May resulting in an estimated 65 million dollars damage, and forcing several thousand persons to evacuate their homes, many by boat or helicopter. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1988 - A sharp cold front began to usher cold, wet and windy weather into the western U.S. Thunderstorms in the Great Plains Region produced wind gusts to 80 mph near Brookings, SD. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Unseasonably hot weather continued in Florida. Five cities reported record high temperatures for the date. The record high of 98 degrees at Lakeland, FL, was their fifth in a row. Thunderstorms produced severe weather in Florida late in the day, with golf ball size hail reported at Kissimmee. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

1990 - Two to five inches of rain over southeastern Ohio on the 28th and 29th capped an exceptionally wet month of May, and triggered widespread flooding. Flooding which resulted claimed three lives, and caused millions of dollars damage. Numerous roads in southeast Ohio were flooded and impassable, and many other roads were blocked by landslides. (Storm Data)


1996: Thunderstorms with extremely heavy rains moved through northern Illinois. Flash flooding was reported in several counties. In Rockford, 4.77 inches of rain fell with Doppler radar estimates exceeding 5 inches in just 8 hours over parts of northern Illinois. Creeks in Dekalb, Winnebago and Boone counties quickly rose out of their banks. As much as 2.5 inches of rain in less than one hour was reported in the city of Dekalb.
An F4 tornado moved through Jefferson, Bullitt, and Spencer counties in Kentucky, injuring 10 people, damaging 600 homes and causing $100 million damage. (Ref. Wilson Wx. History)

2003: Battle Mountain, Nevada: A new Nevada maximum temperature record for May is set when the high temperature rises to 102 °F. at Battle Mountain, NV.
Record highs for May were tied at Palm Springs, CA: 116° (5/23/2001 & 5/28/1983), Las Vegas, NV: 109° and Palomar Mountain, CA: 91° (5/31/2001). (Ref. Wilson Wx. History) (Ref. WxDoctor)

2005: Today’s record high of 90 degrees was the 14th (and last) time Honolulu, HI, set or tied a daily record high this May. Honolulu also set or tied 14 record high lows this May. They May became Honolulu’s warmest May of record. (Ref. Weather Guide Calendar with Phenomenal Weather Events 2011 Accord Pub. 2010, USA)

2006: Near Weirsdale, Florida, lightning hit a tree traveled to a metal fence, and to a 10 year old girl holding the fence. She suffered red entry marks on her arms and abdomen and a black exit mark on her rear end but she survived. (Ref. Weather Guide Calendar with Phenomenal Weather Events 2007 Accord Publishing, USA)