May 02

Cincinnati 5NW #13 (Hamilton County) Ronald E. Rothhaas Jr. - After an April which was warm and wet, May was wetter but cold. Rainfal of 9.48 inches was 5.20 inches above normal and left us with a two month total of 15.93. A very unusual cold snap brought frost on the mornings of the 19th an 21st. While temperatures fell to 34F here with heavy soft frost temperatures fell to 30F at the airport. Annuals were killed in exposed locations at my church. Temperatures averaged 2.5F below normal after an April which was 3.0F above normal.

Cleves 3NW #55 (Hamilton County) James F Davis - Another wet month 15.87'' in the last two! The temps averaged 3.0 degrees below normal. Had my latest freeze since records began in 1987.

Munroe Falls 1WS #25 (Summit County) Larry Huff - Actual maximum temperature was 86 degrees recorded in the afternoon of May 31st, but does not show for that day since NWS coop observation time is at 7 a.m.

Newcomerstown 1S #106 (Tuscarawas County) Don Keating - There were 12 thunder days and a Trace of snowfall on the morning of the 18'th. Maximum pressure was 30.47" on the 11'th and minimum pressure was 29.38 on the 2'nd. Average high gust was 20.6 mph.

Ottawa 4E #15 (Putnam County) Phil & Bonnie Higley - A cooler & wet May. Late frost, 32 degrees on the 19th. Let's get dry out for a little bit.

Streetsboro 2N (Portage County) Vance Lunn - The most note worthy event in May was the four days of snowfall. The 18th saw o.1 in. snow. The 20th saw 0.4 in. snow and the 19th and 21st each saw a trace. A trace of snow briefly coated the ground during sleet showers on the 18th and 20th. Also, there were 4 days of freezing or below temperatures. Other weather included 2 days with thunder, six with fog, and two days where sleet was recorded.

Wooster 7N #16 (Wayne County) Jack Sisler - For the most part weather for May was wet and cold. Even with warm temperatures the last week of the month, mean temperatures were still two degrees below normal. I had three consecutive days with record-breaking lows: 34(20), 29(21), 29(22). May was the second wettest on record; 5.14". This was almost 1.5" above normal for May and 1.3" above normal for the year. Twenty out of 31 days had precipitation. I also had 1.06" of rainfall during a thunderstorm in a little over an hour on the 30th.

OWON #

Station

Mean Max Temp

Mean Min Temp

Mean Temp

High Temp

Date

Low Temp

Date

Total Prec

Max 24hr Prec

Date

# Prec Days

Total Snow

Max 24hr Snow

Date

# of 1"+ Snow Days

Max Wind Gust

Date

Akron-Canton

66.1

43.6

54.9

5/31

5/21

5.35

1.39

12,13

0.0

5/9

Aurora 3S

67.2

41.1

54.2

5/31

5/4,21

5.50

1.32

5/13

5/20

107

Brookville

58.6

5/31

5/19

5.58

1.44

5/12

0.0

5/1

Centerville 1W

71.9

47.9

59.9

5/31

5/19

8.33

2.09

5/13

0.0

5/24

Cincinnati

70.5

48.6

59.6

5/31

5/19

8.03

2.03

12,13

0.0

5/25

Cincinnati 5NW

68.9

50.3

60.4

30,31

5/19

9.48

2.50

5/13

0.0

Cleveland

65.8

45.2

55.5

5/31

5/21

5.77

1.22

12,13

5/20

5/9

Cleves 3NW

73.0

48.6

60.8

5/31

5/19

8.22

2.43

12,13

0.0

5/6

Columbus

69.4

48.1

58.8

5/31

5/22

6.61

1.84

27,28

0.0

9,12

Dayton

68.8

48.3

58.6

5/31

5/19

6.20

1.89

12,13

0.0

5/12

Kent 2E

67.2

43.1

55.1

5/31

5/22

5.04

1.10

5/13

5/20

5/14

Kidron 1N

68.6

45.7

57.2

5/31

19,21,22

5.27

1.30

5/30

0.0

2,9,14

Lagrange 2SW

68.7

43.3

56.0

5/31

5/4

5.57

0.98

5/13

0.0

5/14

Lodi 2S

66.6

43.6

55.1

5/31

4,21

3.81

0.68

5/12

0.0

5/14

Mansfield

66.5

44.3

55.4

5/31

5/22

4.62

0.93

11,12

0.0

5/9

Middleburg Hts

5.04

1.01

5/13

5/20

Munroe Falls 1SW

68.1

41.1

54.6

27,30

4,21

5.09

1.15

5/13

5/21

5/14

106

Newcomerstown 1S

70.0

44.2

57.1

30,31

5/22

3.75

0.78

5/17

5/18

5/9

North Ridgeville 1N

68.5

44.3

56.4

5/31

4,21

5.34

1.15

5/13

5/20

5/14

Ottawa 4E

67.3

46.2

56.7

5/31

5/19

4.27

0.61

5/26

0.0

5/9

Perry

64.3

44.8

54.6

5/31

4,20

6.60

1.95

5/12

5/20

Perrysville 4W

68.5

45.0

56.8

5/31

4,22

4.90

0.89

5/12

0.0

5/12

Rockbridge 4W

69.0

47.5

58.2

5/30

5/22

4.56

1.18

5/17

0.0

113

Sabina

8.72

2.83

5/7

Sharonville

71.5

51.2

61.3

5/31

5/19

7.61

1.42

5/8

0.0

5/25

Springfield 2N

72.4

48.3

60.4

5/31

17,22

6.72

1.00

5/13

0.0

5/2

Streetsboro 2N

68.8

42.6

55.2

5/31

4,21

5.93

2.16

12,13

0.5

0.4

5/20

5/9

112

Sugarcreek 2SW

67.5

44.9

56.2

5/31

21,22

5.34

0.90

5/13

0.0

5/12

Toledo

67.2

45.4

56.3

5/31

5/22

3.31

1.54

11,12

0.0

5/9

Wooster 7N

67.5

44.1

55.8

5/31

5/4

5.14

1.11

5/30

0.0

5/12

Youngstown

66.5

42.5

54.5

5/21

5/4

6.20

1.95

12,13

5/21

5/9

Zanesville 6N

68.2

47.4

56.7

5/31

6.63

1.19

5/28

0.0

5/9

OWON #

Station

Mean Max Temp

Mean Min Temp

Mean Temp

High Temp

Date

Low Temp

Date

Total Prec

Max 24hr Prec

Date

# Prec Days

Total Snow

Max 24hr Snow

Date

# of 1"+ Snow Days

Max Wind Gust

Date

Looks like best chances will be between midnight and say 4:00 A.M with the approach of the warm front and a 500mb vort that is forecast to move eastward through Ohio during the night along and / or just ahead of the surface warm front. Strong warm air advection will take place at the 900 to 850 mb layer. Temp / dewpoints in this layer are forecast to rise to a 63/59!.Showalter values calculate to a -1 C.Other indices also suggest the severe weather threat. Totals = 49, and SWEAT = 380.Hail / wind damage chances are there. Can't totally rule out a rotating storm as Helicity values will be extremely high( near 800 m^2-s^2!).There may bean isolated right -hand turning storm with this highly sheared environment. Let's see what pans out! Other thoughts?

This was issued at 4:37 through the WBNS firstwarn option I have subscribed to. This may be old news to you, and others may not have heard about it.

SOUTH OF A LINE FROM 50 MILES WEST NORTHWEST OF LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY TO 15 MILES SOUTH SOUTHEAST OF HUNTINGTON WEST VIRGINIA. REMEMBER...A TORNADO WATCH MEANS CONDITIONS ARE FAVORABLE FOR

TORNADOES AND SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA. PERSONS IN THESE AREAS SHOULD BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR THREATENING WEATHER CONDITIONS AND LISTEN FOR LATER STATEMENTS AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS.

CONTINUE ESEWD ALONG WARM FRONT FOR SEVERAL MORE HOURS. SURFACE PRESSURE FALLS AND INCREASING INSTABILITY WILL OVERSPREAD MUCH OF WW THIS EVENING. GIVEN THE IMPRESSIVE LOW LEVEL SHEAR...TORNADOES WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE...INCLUDING AN ISOLATED STRONG TORNADO. SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE THREAT WILL ALSO INCREASE IF BOW ECHO EVELOPS.

SURFACE AND ALOFT TO 2 INCHES. EXTREME TURBULENCE AND SURFACE WIND USTS TO 70 KNOTS. A FEW CUMULONIMBI WITH MAXIMUM TOPS TO 500.

Watch for an area of T'storms over N.central Illinois as the night wears on. It looks like a developing Mesoscale Convective System. A surface Theta-E gradient exists over N. Indiana into central Ohio. This gradient will be lifting NE and could bring the storms into NW,N cen.NE Ohio during the night. I've seen these systems track right along this gradient before ahead of warm fronts.

Definately pay attention.Your under a watch with a supercell to your SW and a cluster just to your west.

Just checked the latest weather maps -- for those of you who don't know already, there's tornado watches from New York to North Carolina along the Atlantic seaboard and severe thunderstorm watches from D.C. south and east to Nashville. Looks like the Jet's going to keep it all south of us.

A strong Thunderstorm with winds to 30 mph and brief heavy rains passed through Newcomerstwon at about 1 p.m. Very little in the way of lightning and thunder associated with it. High gust was 30 MPH @ 1:02 p.m. and the rainfall has been 0.19" since it began. It is now 1:22 p.m.

As of 6pm I've recorded 1.10" of rainfall the past 24 hours. Most of this was associated from one thunderstorm this morning that produced .6" from 11:30-12:30. One thunderstorm preceding that produced a wind gust of 42mph between 9 and 10am.

My monthly total for precipitation thus far is 2.50"; most of that occurring since Sunday. This is already 70% of the normal rainfall for May. QPC predictions are calling for 1 inch amounts during the 48-hour period from Friday morning to Sunday morning for most of Ohio.

This mornings newpaper is already saying if farmers can't get out in a week to finish planting corn they will have to find alternative crops or leave the field go to pasture. Only 20% of the crops are planted so far. Although we haven't had as much precipitation as some of you, there is standing water in many of the fields around the area.

I'm not a farmer but, this has been a real drag. I have 3.84" so far. I can't stand not seeing the sun for days on end. This has been worse than in the winter!

May 17 @ 7:00 A.M. ... Rainfall for the past 24 hours amounted to 0.32 inch. This brings our total thus far for this month to 4.25 inches. Already, this month ranks the third wettest since Munroe Falls records began in 1992.

I visited a friend in Canton tonight. While we were driving around near the Belden Village Mall, I observed wet SNOW hitting my windshield, if only for about a minute!! On the way home I also observed wet snow near Dover as well as near Newcomerstown. Incredible, and this is May? I'll make a bold prediction and say that when we finally climb out of this wet and cool weather, it'll be hotter than red blazes!

During the nine hours from 3:00 p.m. until midnight today(Friday, May 17)total rainfall at my weather station has been 1.18" and the rain continues to fall.

At about 12:30 this afternoon we had a shower of SLEET. This shower brought about 0.1 inch of frozen prcip. and briefly left a trace on the ground. This is MAY 18th, isnt't it? The latest I have previously seen winter precipitation fall in Ohio was May 7th, 1989 in Canton where 1.5" snow fell that morning.

Now that's a REAL BUMMER! Snow! Damn! Nothing like that here other than, you guessed it, RAIN!! .77" last 2 1/2 days. May total now stands at 4.61".

The previous record was 40 in 1994..This is also the lowest temperature ever recorded so late in may since my records began in 1985.....

Yesterday, at around 12:30pm, a brief shower of sleet briefly put a trace of depth on the ground.

It is May 20th and it is currently snowing in Eaton Township (near Grafton). Big, fat, white fluffy snowflakes are falling outside and my office where I am writing this e-mail is mightly cool.

This is the latest occurrence of snow that I've ever seen in my life here in northeast Ohio.

I took a trip to Pelee Island (Ontario) this past weekend and at about 1 PM Saturday afternoon (May 18th) a brief snow shower was observed. The snow was in the form of graupel, but it was snow all the same.

While this isn't the kind of weather most of us like to see this time of year, this is a significant, historic event. Has anyone else seen snow this morning?

None of the white stuff up here in University Circle -- in fact, the sun is shining in my eyes at this very moment.

We drove up to our new home site this morning in Thompson TWP., Geauga Co. and saw snow falling over the whole area. Some snow showers moved through the Streetsboro area in late morning. While measurement is difficult because it is not sticking, I would roughly estimate that about 0.3 inch fell. While it was light (by winter standards, I should add), it was definitely more than a trace amount. Like I told the guy doing the construction site work, I knew we would start building the new house before winter was over!

This morning it was also snowing here in Hambden Twp. I had to drive down to Chardon Square and it was snowing the whole way down and back. Big fluffy flakes. Currently (3PM) it is partly sunny and 48 degrees.

I had a record low this morning of 34 degrees @4:59am breaking the previous low of 37 degrees for this date in 1993. The record low for tomorrow (Tuesday) morning is 33 also set in 1993.

I have not seen any snow during this cold spell. The latest I recall seeing or recording any snowfall has usually been around the last week of April.

Had another record low this morning of 29 degrees @ 6:17am breaking the old record for this date of 33 in 1993.

The low temperature of 30 degrees hit at 3:57 a.m. broke the previous record low of 34 degrees for the 21'st of May. The record of 34 was established in 1981.

i recorded a record low of 35 @ 5:13 am breaking the previous record of..........38 in 1997....this makes 5 record lows since 5/15 and two tied record lows one on 5/4 and 5/11.

Established a new record low of 29 @5:55am this morning breaking the old record of 34 set on this date in 1997. This makes three record lows in as many days.

Tornado being reported on the ground in northeast Wood County. And it only makes sense -- I was in Toledo just a few hours ago but had to head north to get to work...

Reports of heavy damage near I-75 and the turnpike... That complex however now moving onto the lake, so get the boats out to chase!

Widespread thunderstorms in Cincinnati Tuesday brought rainfall ranging from a tenth of an inch to several inches over the area. Hail mostly pea to marble size was also common. Rainfall at my Cincinnati 5NW location was 1.20 inches bringing the May to date total to 9.02 inches and rainfall since April 1 is now 15.47 inches!

Tuesday was the fifth day of the month with an inch or more of rain with 1.01 on May 7, 1.67 on May 8, 2.50 on May 13, 1.06 on May 17, and 1.20 on May 28.

It didn't look as though other areas received the degree of rainfall last night that we did. We got 0.45" in about 15 minutes last night.

I had 1.06" rainfall from 8:30am - 9:45am during a passing thunderstorm with light rain continuing at the moment.

Right around 5 PM, KCLE issued T'Storm warnings for Summit and Portage Counties. Radar evidently showed a potentially severe storm near Tallmadge (eastern Summit County) and the storm was reported to be moving east towards Kent and Ravenna. By this time what little rain and thunder we had stopped and between 5 and 6 there was nothing - nada. It seems to me someone misread the radar on the direction of the storm if not its location. My take on the storm was that it was moving southeast. I was just leaving my office in sw Kent (very near the Tallmadge line) at 5 PM and most of the storm looked like it was well south of our area. Maybe I missed something but it seems this was a bad call. I could see some justification for possibly warning southern Portage County (I know its done county by county) but the heading given on the warning was wrong. With all the warnings that were being issued within that time frame, I'm sure NWS had its work cut out for it and I offer this comment with all due respect to them.

Right around 5 PM, KCLE issued T'Storm warnings for Summit and Portage Counties. Radar evidently showed a potentially severe storm near Tallmadge (eastern Summit County) and the storm was reported to be moving east towards Kent and Ravenna. By this time what little rain and thunder we had stopped and between 5 and 6 there was nothing - nada. It seems to me someone misread the radar on the direction of the storm if not its location. My take on the storm was that it was moving southeast. I was just leaving my office in SW Kent (very near the Tallmadge line) at 5 PM and most of the storm looked like it was well south of our area. Maybe I missed something but it seems this was a bad call. I could see some justification for possibly warning southern Portage County (I know it’s done county by county) but the heading given on the warning was wrong. With all the warnings that were being issued within that time frame, I'm sure NWS had its work cut out for it and I offer this comment with all due respect to them.

I have NO idea if it was a bad call or not. You know I live close to you, and I had .02" of rain along with some mammatus clouds overhead. My wife Karen called me about 445 pm and said in Hudson where she works, they had pea size hail and some pretty good winds. I only recorded a high wind gust of 18.7 mph. The CAPES were running from 1500 to 2000 j/kg and the L.I.'s of -4 and I had a dew point of 65 degrees, so the potential was there for something severe. I was also checking out radar on WeatherTap, and it looked as though the cell had split at the Summit/Portage line. Maybe when the WARNING was issued, it appeared to be holding together, and was heading east. You do have to give the NWS credit for there work, and a warning is better than no warning.