Climatological Report (Monthly)
Issued by NWS Buffalo, NY
Issued by NWS Buffalo, NY
963 CXUS51 KBUF 030320 CLMBUF CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BUFFALO NY 1122 AM EDT SAT JUN 01 2024 ................................... ...THE BUFFALO NY CLIMATE SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2024... CLIMATE NORMAL PERIOD: 1991 TO 2020 CLIMATE RECORD PERIOD: 1871 TO 2024 WEATHER OBSERVED NORMAL DEPART LAST YEAR`S VALUE DATE(S) VALUE FROM VALUE DATE(S) NORMAL ................................................................ TEMPERATURE (F) RECORD HIGH 94 05/22/1911 LOW 25 05/04/1926 HIGHEST 86 05/20 87 05/31 05/22 LOWEST 42 05/11 34 05/18 AVG. MAXIMUM 73.3 67.4 5.9 67.4 AVG. MINIMUM 54.2 48.3 5.9 45.8 MEAN 63.7 57.9 5.8 56.6 DAYS MAX >= 90 0 0.2 -0.2 0 DAYS MAX <= 32 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS MIN <= 32 0 0.2 -0.2 0 DAYS MIN <= 0 0 0.0 0.0 0 PRECIPITATION (INCHES) RECORD MAXIMUM 8.09 2011 MINIMUM 0.53 1877 TOTALS 2.61 3.37 -0.76 1.15 DAYS >= .01 13 7 DAYS >= .10 8 4 DAYS >= .50 2 0 DAYS >= 1.00 0 0 GREATEST 24 HR. TOTAL 0.88 05/28 TO 05/29 0.43 05/19 TO 05/20 SNOWFALL (INCHES) RECORDS TOTAL 7.9 1989 TOTALS 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 SINCE 7/1 71.3 95.4 -24.1 SNOWDEPTH AVG. 0 0 DAYS >= 1.0 0 0.0 0.0 0 DAYS >= 0.1 0 0 GREATEST SNOW DEPTH 0 0 MM 24 HR TOTAL MM DEGREE DAYS HEATING TOTAL 93 254 -161 278 SINCE 7/1 5161 6412 -1251 MM COOLING TOTAL 59 32 27 25 SINCE 1/1 60 34 26 MM ................................................................ WIND (MPH) AVERAGE WIND SPEED 8.1 HIGHEST WIND SPEED/DIRECTION 32/230 DATE 05/22 HIGHEST GUST SPEED/DIRECTION 50/250 DATE 05/08 SKY COVER POSSIBLE SUNSHINE (PERCENT) MM NUMBER OF DAYS FAIR 5 NUMBER OF DAYS PC 17 NUMBER OF DAYS CLOUDY 9 AVERAGE RH (PERCENT) 66 WEATHER CONDITIONS. NUMBER OF DAYS WITH THUNDERSTORM 4 MIXED PRECIP 0 HEAVY RAIN 3 RAIN 4 LIGHT RAIN 18 FREEZING RAIN 0 LT FREEZING RAIN 0 HAIL 0 HEAVY SNOW 0 SNOW 0 LIGHT SNOW 0 SLEET 0 FOG 15 FOG W/VIS <= 1/4 MILE 6 HAZE 2 - INDICATES NEGATIVE NUMBERS. R INDICATES RECORD WAS SET OR TIED. MM INDICATES DATA IS MISSING. T INDICATES TRACE AMOUNT. && ... A PLEASANT, BUT ABNORMALLY WARM MONTH ... THE BEAT JUST GOES ON FOR WESTERN NEW YORK AS A MILD AIRFLOW PATTERN THAT BEGAN AT THE START OF WINTER, CONTINUED THROUGH THE FINAL DAYS OF METEOROLOGICAL SPRING. PLEASANT DAYS WITH TOLERABLE HUMIDITY LEVELS OCCURRED FOR MUCH OF THE MONTH, WITH A PORTION OF THE MONTHLY RAIN AT NIGHT. THE TEMPERATURE AVERAGED 63.7F THIS MAY WHICH RANKS 4TH WARMEST MAY ON RECORD. TEMPERATURE RECORDS FOR BUFFALO DATE BACK TO 1871. FOR THE YEAR, THE 5-MONTH AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 43.8F RANKS TIED FOR WARMEST ON RECORD WITH THE YEAR 2012. THE MONTHS OF FEBRUARY THROUGH MAY ALL RANKED WITHIN THEIR RESPECTIVE TOP 10 WARMEST MONTHS ON RECORD. THERE WERE 8 DAYS THAT FINISHED AT OR BELOW NORMAL, THESE OCCURRING THE PERIOD OF MAY 9TH TO 12TH AS WELL AS MAY 28TH TO 31ST. THERE WAS AN EVEN SPREAD TO THE WARMTH WITH THE MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURE DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL THE SAME AT 5.9 DEGREES. THERE WAS VERY LITTLE EXCESSIVE HEAT THIS MONTH, WITH THE 5 DAYS IN THE 80S JUST ONE DAY MORE THAN A TYPICAL MAY. THERE WAS ONE RECORD, WITH THE LOWEST TEMPERATURE ON THE 21ST OF 68F BREAKING THE FORMER RECORD WARM MINIMUM OF 67F SET BACK IN 1959. PRECIPITATION FOR THE MONTH FELL THREE-QUARTERS OF AN INCH BELOW NORMAL. THE WETTEST DAY WAS THE 28TH WHEN A SERIES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AIRPORT ACCUMULATED 0.81 INCHES OF RAIN IN THE RAIN GAUGE. THOUGH DRY, THERE WERE A NUMBER OF DAYS WITH MINOR RAINFALL, AND FOR THE MONTH THE 13 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE PRECIPITATION IS ONE DAY MORE THAN NORMAL. STRONG THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WAS SLOW TO START THIS SPRING, AND THE FIRST SEVERE OF THE YEAR FOR WESTERN NEW YORK DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL THE 22ND OF MAY, WITH STORMS BLOSSOMING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HALF OF WESTERN NEW YORK WITH TREES AND POWER LINES DOWN. THE FIRST WEEK OF THE MONTH WAS SPLENDID, WITH DAYTIME TEMPERATURES ABOVE NORMAL, AND OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE LOWER 50S, ALLOWING FOR OPEN WINDOW FRESH-AIR SLEEPING CONDITIONS. THE EXCEPTION WAS THE 5TH WHEN AN AREA OF SHOWERS FROM THE SOUTH SLOWLY PASSED ACROSS WESTERN NEW YORK. A WARM FRONT EXTENDED INTO WESTERN NEW YORK THE EARLY MORNING OF THE 8TH, WITH STRONG OVERNIGHT THUNDERSTORMS AWAKING BUFFALO. THE MORNING OF THE 16TH SAW AREAS OF DENSE FOG OVER WESTERN NEW YORK. A COLD FRONT BROUGHT A PERIOD OF SHOWERS THE AFTERNOON OF THE 17TH, WITH OVER A HALF AN INCH OF RAIN FALLING. THE 19TH THROUGH THE 22ND FEATURED A PERIOD OF VERY WARM TEMPERATURES, ALONG WITH A BIT OF HUMIDITY IN THE AIR. A FEW SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE AROUND BUFFALO ON THE 22ND, WITH STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN REGION OF WESTERN NEW YORK. THIS WAS ALSO THE BEGINNING OF A STRETCH OF 7 OF 8 DAYS WITH MEASURABLE RAINFALL. THOUGH MUCH OF THE ACTIVITY WAS SCATTERED AND LIGHT, A SERIES OF STORMS ARRIVING FROM THE NORTHWEST ON THE 28TH REPEATEDLY PASSED OVER BUFFALO. FOLLOWING A COLD FRONT ON THE 29TH WITH SOME EARLY MORNING SHOWERS, LIGHT NORTHERLY FLOW BROUGHT LOW HUMIDITY, ABUNDANT SUNSHINE AND PLEASANT CONDITIONS THE FINAL TWO DAYS OF MAY. THE WATER TEMPERATURE ON LAKE ERIE REMAINED NEAR OR AT RECORD LEVELS THROUGH THE MONTH. STARTING MAY AT 49F DEGREES, LAKE ERIE WARMED TO 64F DEGREES THE FINAL DAYS OF THE MONTH. WINDS WERE A BIT BELOW NORMAL, AND THE STRONGEST GUST OF 50 MILES PER HOUR FROM THE SOUTHWEST ON THE 8TH OCCURRED WITHIN AN EXPANDING LAKE BREEZE CIRCULATION. IN ALL A PLEASANT MONTH, THAT AGAIN FEATURED LIMITED BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURE DAYS. && THOMAS $$