Sixth Warmest May

By Russell Russ

This May was a nice weather month. Nice if you like warm temperatures
with partly to mostly sunny skies. There were some wet days, but they were
few and far between. May 2023 was also a very nice weather month. Two
years in a row. Take it when you can get it. A special, non-weather related
highlight this month was the very visible Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights)
during the evening of May 10. It was a spectacular show for those lucky
enough to see it in person. It is exceedingly rare indeed to see it so clearly
and to such an extent in Connecticut.
May’s low temperature of 33 degrees was observed on May 11. That is cold
for May, but it was six degrees from a record low. The high of 85 was
observed on May 22, two degrees shy of a record high. With an average
monthly mean temperature of 58.9, it was 4.0 degrees above normal. Every
month in 2024 has been above normal for monthly mean temperatures.
Norfolk’s warmest May occurred in 2015 with a temperature of 61.8
degrees, the coldest was in 1967 with 46.8.
The total precipitation recorded for the month was 4.21 inches, 0.13 inch
below normal. There were no severe weather conditions this month. There
was one small thunderstorm on May 8 that produced 0.36 inch of rain. The
big rainfall producer days were May 27 with 0.84 inch and May 30 with
0.90 inch. Through May, the total precipitation for 2024 totaled 26.76
inches, 6.15 inches above normal. We are doing well in the precipitation
department so far this year. Always good to have a buffer before we head
into the typically dry summer months. Norfolk’s driest May was in 1980
with 1.31 inches, the wettest was in 1984 with 12.34 inches.
There was no snowfall in May this year. In fact, the last wintry precipitation
to fall in Norfolk came on April 6. One cannot write about snowfall in May
without mentioning the Norfolk, and State of Connecticut, record 20.0
inches recorded in May 1977.
An early look at June’s weather through June 20 showed that temperatures
were once again warmer than normal. June had some very nice early
summer weather for the first half of the month. After June 17 temperatures
really warmed up. June 19 and 20 both reached 90 degrees and both days set

records for Norfolk. June likely will rank high for warmth. What really stood
out was the lack of rain. With just 0.31 inch of rainfall through June 20, it
ranked as the driest June on record. Rain and thunderstorms are in the
forecast for the remainder of the month, but it seems likely that June, even
with a little rain at month’s end, will rank very high as one of Norfolk’s
driest Junes on record. Norfolk’s rainfall surplus will be taking a big hit in
June. On the positive side, at least this June we so far have not had to deal
with the Canadian and western US wildfire smoke that Norfolk and much of
the country experienced last year.