May had a little bit of everything, weatherwise, for Los Alamos and White Rock residents, with cool, then warm temperatures, sunny days, rain and even snow.
May saw nearly one inch (0.92) of precipitation in Los Alamos and about three-quarters of one inch in White Rock, said Laboratory meteorologist Scot Johnson of Meteorology and Air Quality (ENV-MAQ). Both totals were below normal for the month and most of the recorded precipitation fell early in May, he said.
Johnson said through the end of May, Los Alamos received 9.02 inches of precipitation, which is well ahead of the normal (5.46) through the end of May. It also is the highest total recorded precipitation through May in Los Alamos since 1987 when 10.01 inches of precipitation fell, he added.
Los Alamos had a mean temperature of 57 degrees Fahrenheit in May, which is 2 degrees above normal. In White Rock last month, the mean temperature of 58 F was 1 F greater than normal, said Johnson.
However, because a high-pressure ridge parked over the region in mid-May warmed temperatures dramatically, a number of high temperature records were recorded in Los Alamos and White Rock. New high temperature marks were established May 20, 21, 22 and 25 in Los Alamos and White Rock. The 92 F recorded in White Rock on May 21 is the warmest ever for this early in the year since recordkeeping began in 1965, said Johnson.
Wind gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour were recorded on May 14 in Los Alamos and May 6 and 17 in White Rock. For the month, wind gusts were about 10 percent less than normal, said Johnson.
Johnson said that the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) climate forecast is predicting higher than normal temperatures this month in the region, with normal precipitation. Both NCEP and the International Research Institute for Climate Prediction forecast warmer than normal temperatures and lower than normal precipitation during the upcoming “monsoon season.”
“But the bias is not very strong, so there’s hope for a good rainy season,” said Johnson.
For more information about weather in the region, go to to http://weather.lanl.gov/ online.
