A dry April into a dry May

A dry April into a dry May

I’ve been checking into the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center’s three-month prediction (June, July and August), and it states, “…an equal chance of above or below normal temperatures and below normal precipitation.”

April 2013 wasn’t a wet one with only 0.91 inches of precipitation. We seem to be on course, here’s a review of some past Aprils (2012 – 1.08 inches, 2011 - .84 inches, and 2010 – 1.12 inches). The high temperature in April was 78.5°F while the month’s low was 27.4°F. If you recall, we had some wind events toward the end of the month. I recorded a peak gust here at the home weather station of 38 mph on the 28th.

Hope you had a nice time on Colorama weekend; I certainly did. We had great weather, clear sky and warm temperatures; I won’t take any credit! May had been rather dry to that point. Zero precipitation here at the home weather station.

The recent rain will be welcomed by all our garden growers and regional farmers, I’m sure. Mean rainfall for May is 1.08 inches and our record rainfall was in 1980 with 3.38 inches. Also, the one-day record was in 1941 with 1.35 inches. Average high temperature for May is 71.2°F and the average low is 38.3°F. Here at the home weather station, I’ve already recorded a high of 90.5°F. Reviewing the Office of Washington State Climatologist website shows that as of May 1st, only four areas were reporting below average snowpack (snow water equivalent), while all other areas are above the average.

If you use our state’s wild rivers and streams, there have been numerous flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service. These warnings reflect the rate of snow melt occurring as our daily temperatures continue to rise. Please be careful when you are visiting and using these waterways.

Let’s look skyward this month and observe the planets. Here is what to watch for in our night sky, the time and direction. The evening sky: Mercury (northwest), Venus (northwest), Jupiter (west) and Saturn (southwest). The midnight sky: Saturn (south). The early morning sky: Saturn (west), Uranus (east) and Neptune (southeast). A decent pair of binoculars is always helpful. We had a full moon on Saturday, May 25.