Weather Extremes

For the week of May-31, there were 81 weather records tied or broken. This number was substantially lower than the nearly 500 extremes observed the previous week.

Most of the records last week were scattered across the U.S. Two weeks ago, the Far West was breaking records almost on a daily basis.

For the final week of May, there were 20 high temperature records reported. On May 25, Naples, Fla., reported a new high of 94 degrees. Southern Texas also sizzled on the 25th. It was 96 degrees at Austin and 99 degrees at Austin Camp Mabry. McAllen soared to 98 degrees. Even normally cool Alaska observed a few record highs. Juneau hit 75 degrees on May 25. On the 27th, Portland, Maine, enjoyed a warm 85 degrees.

The southern U.S. continued to bake on May 26 with 93 degrees at Sarasota, Fla. It was 95 degrees at Alexandria, La. On May 31, Midland, Texas, soared to a record 106 degrees.

Record lows were noted in the Southwest and northern U.S. last week. On May 27, Minot, N.D., dipped to 23 degrees; Grand Forks, N.D., dropped to 27 degrees. On May 28, the Grand Canyon in Arizona dipped to 25 degrees. Flint, Mich., had a record low of 31 degrees on May 28; it was a chilly 39 degree that day in Paso Robles, Calif.

Record precipitation was observed in parts of the West and central U.S. On May 25, Paducah, Ky., reported 2.10 inches of moisture. An impressive 3.23 inches of rain was observed there the next day. Also on May 26, Fort Smith, Ark., had 2.04 inches and Burns, Idaho, had .37 inches. Springfield, Ill., measured a record 1.89 inches on May 30.

There was only one snowfall record in the Lower 48 last week. It happened at East Rapid City, S.D., which reported a trace of snow. But on May 27 in Alaska, 1.8 inches of snow fell in Nome and 2.0 inches at Barrow.