May running cooler/wetter here than year ago
Californians are being warned to monitor the elderly and conserve electricity in the
coming days as temperatures soar to 100 degrees. Sections of the San Francisco area
are likely to reach or exceed 90 degrees while the state’s inland valleys bear the
brunt of the heat with sizzling highs up to 105 degrees. Desert-like relative
humidities threaten to support wildfires.
The heat isn't limited to California. Readings 20 degrees above normal may set new
records from Los Angeles north to Seattle. In Portland, Ore.—where mid 60s are
typical this time of year—unusual 90s are predicted each of the next two days.
Mid May arrives in Chicago with the month's temperatures running within a half
degree of normal—but a noteworthy 6.5 degrees cooler than a year ago. The month's
3.09 inches of rain is twice normal and nearly as much as a full May’s rainfall (3.38
inches). A year-to-year comparison is even more dramatic. Rainfall in the opening 15
days this month is 24 times the 0.13 inches recorded by this date a year ago.
ONLY TWO 80s HERE SO FAR—UNUSUAL COMPARED TO THE PAST 80 YEARS
With no 80s expected here until the week after next, the two 80s on the books stand
out. Only 14 of the past 80 years (since 1928) have recorded so few 80s by mid-May.