Topsy-Turvy Temperature Regime for U.S. this May
A strong surge of warm air is flowing into the central U.S. early this week dramatically rising temperatures from near record cold to near record heat at some locations. Meanwhile Alaska continues to be much colder than normal while Washington State much warmer than normal. Here is a brief review of the extremes.
The NWS office in Fairbanks, Alaska announced that the five week period of April 3 through May 7 was the coldest in station history (temperature records began in 1904) with an average of just 19.9°F (previous coldest such period was 20.6°F in 1924). As of today (May 13) the city has not seen an above normal daily temperature since April 2nd. A record daily low for May 13th was set with a 22° reading (old record 26° in 1938). Further north, temperatures fell below zero (-6°F at Killick Pass and -5°F at Antigun Pass) on May 13th as well. The 10° at Bettles beat its previous record low for the date by a full 10° (old record 20° in 2007) and is the coldest temperature ever recorded here so late in the season.
Meanwhile, Washington State enjoyed a record warm spell between May 5-11. In Seattle (at the Sea-Tac Airport site) the temperature rose from a daily record low of 37° on May 1st to record highs of 80° on May 5, 87° on May 6, and 80° on May 11. The 87° on May 6 was the warmest ever recorded so early in the season. Yakima, Washington saw an amazing string of six consecutive days above 90° from May 6-11. The average high for this period is 70°. Like Seattle, May 1st was a record or near-record cold morning in Yakima with a 26° reading just shy of the all-time May record of 25° (set on May 1, 1954). By May 10th the temperature peaked at 97°, the 3rd daily record high in a row (94° on May 8, 95° on May 9) and was also the warmest ever measured so early in the season. It was also the warmest temperature recorded anywhere in the U.S. for that day.
At this time a dramatic warm up is taking place in the central U.S. Chicago saw a low of 36° this morning (May 13) above its record for the date (30° in 1938) but by Tuesday it is expected to be as warm as 87°, a 51° rise in one day which, if it occurs, will be one the greatest one-day warm ups in the city’s history. The greatest was 58° from 0° on February 13, 1887 to 58° on February 14, 1887. Rockford, Illinois saw a near record low of 33° on May 13 (record is 32° set in 1938) and is expected to hit close to 90° on May 14 (record is 92° in 2007). The greatest one-day temperature rise in Rockford’s history was 63° (from 30° on April 9, 1930 to 93° on April 10, 1930). Bismarck, North Dakota measured 23° on May 12th (record for date was 20° in 1888) and reached a high of 91° on May 13 (tying record of 91° in 1932). Pierre, South Dakota saw a record daily low of 25° on May 12 which warmed up to 93° on May 13 (short of the record high of 99° set in 1941). The temperature rose 70° in Aberdeen, South Dakota from the low of May 12th (22°) to the high of May 13th (92°) and the story was just about the same in Huron where 26° on May 12 (1° short of the record 25° set in 1971) rose to 93° on May 13 (record 95° in 1894). Fargo, North Dakota which hadn’t seen its temperature rise above 50° all winter and spring until April 26th (the latest on record for such), spiked up to 93° on May 13th. It was just 24° the day before (May 12th).
Surface temperature map and wind flow for the Upper Midwest at 1 p.m. CST on May 13th. Note the almost 55° spread in temperatures from the Lake Superior area to the central Plains.
The warm surge will be much welcome for the folks in Michigan. Sault Ste. Marie measured 5.9” of snowfall on May 11-12, one of its greatest May snowfalls on record (the snowiest month of May was in 1927 when 7.9” accumulated). Gaylord, Michigan (in the north-central portion of the Lower Peninsula) had a high of just 35° on May 12th, the coldest daily high ever measured during the month of May. They also picked up 2.0” of snow.
Huge wet flakes of snow accumulate in Kalkaska, Michigan on May 12. This was one of the heaviest, latest snowfalls the area has ever seen. By Wednesday or Thursday the cold and snow should be just a memory as temperatures are expected to soar into the 70°s here. Photo by Sarah Robinson for The Weather Channel.
from: http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=156