May/2020 Weather and Climate Recap

This will be my last post recapping May 2020 weather, and I'll take a look at the year's weather so far.

First, here is the average mean temperature for the month of May, observed on a percentile scale. This means that if you see a 100, May 2020 was warmer than 100% of Mays in recorded history and if you se a 1, May 2020 was warmer than 1% of Mays in recorded history.

Average mean temperature percentiles for May 2020 (Northeast Regional Climate Center)

Evidently, it was quite cool in the Mid Atlantic, but as you head further north, things warmed up compared to normal. Here are the values for those average mean temperatures in °F.

Average mean temperatures for May 2020 (Northeast Regional Climate Center)

As far as 2020 goes, the story is much different. Here's the same map as the first one (the percentile one), but for the year to date so far.

Average mean temperature percentiles for 2020 (Northeast Regional Climate Center)

2020 thus far has been in the 80th or 90th percentiles for almost all stations in the Northeast, meaning it surely has been hot when compared to normal! I think this is particularly due to a warm winter that we had, given that April and May were so cold this year. And it looks like that warm trend for the year will continue. Here is the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) three month outlook for temperature, which was released on May 21. The colors indicate probabilities that temperature will be above or below normal, and any red areas are places that the CPC expects to have above average temperatures over the next 3 months.

3 month temperature outlook (CPC)

Put simply, the CPC expects it to be a hot summer, which will likely make us continue to have one of the warmest years on record here in the Northeast.

Enjoy your Sunday!