Ithaca Climate Summary for May 1998

Temperature

• With an average temperature of 61.1 degrees, the month of May 1998 averaged 6.1 degrees warmer than normal.
• This was the 3rd warmest May in 126 years of record and 10.4 degrees warmer than last May.
• This was the 6th month in a row with warmer than normal temperatures.
• This has been the warmest January-May period on record in Ithaca.
• The warmest temperature of the month was 87 degrees on the 16th.
• The coldest temperature of the month was 34 degrees on the 23rd.

Precipitation

• May precipitation totalled 3.10 inches, which was 94% of normal.
• This ended the string of six consecutive wetter-than-normal months.
• The majority of the month¹s precipitation came during the first 12 days of the month (2.78 inches). Each of these 12 days had at least a trace of rainfall. After that, however, only 5 of the last 19 days had any rainfall reported (totalling 0.32 inches).
• The year-to-date precipitation total of 16.71 inches was 4.4 inches greater than normal.