May 2012 Review...Another warmer than normal month

The warm spring continued, resulting in another much warmer than normal month across the North Woods. While no records were set for the warmest May, a few locations reported one of their top ten warmest May's, and all sites were within their top 20 warmest on record.

Per the late spring usual, rainfall varied greatly across the area, as scattered heavy rain producing thunderstorms became more common. In general, the least rain occurred across Eastern Upper and Northeast Lower Michigan, where both the SOO and Alpena came in below normal for the month. Elsewhere, rainfall averaged near to above normal.

Although May can see at least a few episodes of light snow, no snow was observed this month (which is not uncommon).

May Temperature Data:

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2012)**
May Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
55.5	51.8	+3.7	7th Warmest	86 / 19th	32 / 17th	57.5 / 1998	40.4 / 1907

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2012)**
May Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
58.8	53.9	+4.9	N/A	89 / 20th	30 / 17th	61.1 / 1991	46.3 / 1924

**Alpena (1916 - 2012)**
May Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
56.7	52.5	+4.2	7th Warmest	92 / 20th	29 / 17th	58.4 / 1991	45.4 / 1924

**Traverse City Airport (1897 - 2012)**
May Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
60.2	53.7	+6.5	5th Warmest	93 / 20th	32 / 10th	61.1 / 1998	45.3 / 1907

**Gaylord** **Airport (1951 - 2012)**
May Mean	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Warmest Temp/Date(s)	Coolest Temp/Date(s)	Record Warm/Year	Record Cold/Year
57.0	52.8	+4.2	N/A	88 / 19th, 20th	26 / 17th	61.2 / 1977	46.0 / 1997

May Precipitation Data (inches):

**Sault Ste Marie (1888 - 2012)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
0.89	2.57	-1.68	6th Driest	0.52 / 28th-29th	8	7.41 / 1970	0.50 / 1891

**Houghton Lake (1919 - 2012)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
4.58	2.82	+1.76	10th Wettest	2.56 / 3rd	7	7.40 / 2004	0.40 / 1966

**Alpena (1916 - 2012)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Greatest 24-hr rainfall/date(s)	Days with measurable precipitation	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
2.00	2.67	-0.67	N/A	0.83 / 3rd	9	8.29 / 1983	0.49 / 1925

**Traverse City Cooperative Observing Station (1930 - 1993, 2001 - 2012)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
4.05	3.00	+1.05	10th Wettest	10.78 / 1942	0.32 / 1966

**Gaylord Cooperative Observing Station (1940 - 2012)**
Precipitation	Normal	Departure	Ranking	Record Wettest/Year	Record Driest/Year
3.75	3.08	+0.67	N/A	9.11 / 1983	0.58 / 1977

- all averages are calculated using the new 1981 - 2010 period

( ) = Consistent years of record; Record temperature data for Gaylord is a combination of Gaylord Airport (2001- 2012) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (1951-2001), Record precipitation data for Traverse City is a combination of Cherry Capital Airport (1930-1993) and the Cooperative Observing Station records (2001-2012)

- only rankings in the top 10 will be entered

* = Record occurred in multiple years; latest year shown

** = New all-time record high for the month

**THESE DATA ARE PRELIMINARY AND HAVE NOT UNDERGONE FINAL QUALITY CONTROL BY THE NATIONAL CLIMATIC DATA CENTER. THEREFORE, THESE DATA ARE SUBJECT TO REVISION. FINAL AND CERTIFIED CLIMATE DATA CAN BE ACCESSED AT WWW.NCDC.NOAA.GOV.**

For additional climate information and atmospheric and oceanic features that drive the patterns across our area, please visit the following links:

Latest Central Pacific Ocean Temperature Trends Large Scale Atmospheric Blocking Features Local Climate Home Page

* Data for Traverse City is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Cherry Capital Airport and the cooperative observing station at Munson Medical Center. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data…particularly snowfall data from 1996-2001.

**Data for Gaylord is derived from a composite of observations taken at both Gaylord-Otsego County Airport and the cooperative observing station located near downtown Gaylord. This data is for informational purposes only and does not meet climatological standards. This data set may include periods with missing data and data that has been recorded from different observing points throughout history.

National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office