Perrysville 4W #79 (Richland County) Katie Gerwig - The month of May was wetter than normal by approximately 1 inch with precipitation falling on 17 days. Temperatures averaged slightly above normal with the warmest readings from the 1st to the 11th. Six days had thunderstorms, none severe in this area.

Cincinnati 5NW #13 (Hamilton County) Ronald E. Rothhaas Jr - Perception is not always reality. So it is with May 2001. Ask most people in Cincinnati and they will tell you May was cold and very wet. In reality, it was 2.1 F above normal and rainfall was only 0.90 inch above normal. However, measurable rain fell on 15 of 31 days with at least a trace on 19 days. Measurable rain fell on all but one day from the 16th to the 27th as a cut off low sat over the area.. On 6 of the last 10 days of the month the high was below 70 with a high of only 58 on the 23rd, leaving an impression that the whole month was cool. In a year when the precipitation deficit had topped 8 inches, the persistent rainfall of late May made it seem like a rain forest. However, annual rainfall was still quite short by month's end. On May 15 to 19, a very heavy rainfall event covered the eastern parts of the area but mainly missed my station. Accumulated rainfall of 3 to 8 inches fell is an area from southwest Michigan to eastern Kentucky. A graphic of accumulated rainfall in this event can be accessed through the homepage of the NWS Wilmington. The heavy rain upstream drove up the Ohio River causing minor lowland flooding and canceling concerts at the Riverbend Music Center. Interestingly, I have yet to record 1.00 inches of rain in any 24 hour period this year.

Kidron 1N #2 (Wayne County) Ronald A. Hahn - May was divided into two major regimes. The first 11 days saw summer-like readings with 6 of those days having highs in the 80s. Cool weather dominated thereafter with a couple exceptions. Temperatures averaged 1.9 degrees above normal. Precipitation was about normal (0.05 above) at 4.25 inches. We had a total of seven 80 degree days in May and that makes 12 for the year with the five in April.

Wooster 7N #16 (Wayne County) Jack Sisler - Temperatures were about two degrees above normal with the warmer temperatures occuring during the first half of the month. Precipitation was almost four tenths above normal although it seemed more with 18 days having a trace or more.

Perry 3SE #38 (Lake County) Christopher Cintula - Frost on the 31st (morning) was the latest on record. It was mosty on roof tops and only a little on the grass. The frost did not do much damage.

Spring Valley 2E #62 (Greene County) Ed Kramer - Our drought was dramatically ended by mid May with cool and wet conditions. Stunted soybean and corn crops struggled with ponding and soil temperatures which hit a low of 53 degrees (six inch depth) on May 28th. This was the lowest soil temperature at this station and was 7 degrees below normal. Of some note was the amazing accuracy of the reworked U.S. mid-range forecast. The new MRF pegged the block a week before the 15th. Very few took the MRF omega block seriously or even considered the longevity of the "Chicago Monster".

Kent 2W #53 (Portage County) Eric Wertz - May 2001 saw normal precipitation and normal temperatures. There were 15 days of measurable precipitation. The period of the 21st through the 27th saw daily rainfall and some thunderstorms as a persistent low pressure system and cool temperatures plaqued the region. Thunderstorms occurred on 5 days with scattered reports of severe weather on the 21st with a tornado watch and warning resulting for Summit County. A total of four watches/warnings/advisories were issued during the month. High wind gusts were notably lower this month with the high wind gust being only 29 mph on the 26th. A record low temperature of 35 degrees was set on the 31st. Total rainfall was 2.81 inches with four fog days observed.

May 2001

Significant Weather Events Reported by Ohio Weather Observer Network Observers and displayed on ohioweather.net

5/2 - Kidron 1N (Wayne County) ... Today's high temperature of 83 degrees at 4:26 pm broke the old record for this date of 78 degrees set in 1992.

5/2 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... High of 84 degrees at 3:25 pm set a record for this date. Previous record was 78 set in 1999.

5/3 - Toledo 5NE (Lucas County) ... High temperature of 86 degrees broke the old record for this date of 70 degrees in 1999.

5/3 - Kent 2W (Portage County) ... High temperature of 84 degrees at 2:40 pm set a new high temperature record for this date.

5/3 - Kidron 1N (Wayne County) ... High temperature of 87 degrees at 4:47 pm broke the old record for this date of 79 degrees set in 1999.

5/3 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... High of 87 degrees at 2:58 pm broke the old record for this date. Previous record was 82 degrees set in 2000.

5/4 - Kidron 1N (Wayne County) ... Broke old record for this date of 82 set in 1999 with a reading today of 84 degrees at 1:18 pm.

5/4 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... Established a new record high for this date at 3:06 pm of 86 degrees, replacing the previous record high of 83 degrees set in both 1999 and 2000.

5/4 - Toledo 5NE (Lucas County) ... Recorded a high temperature of 85 degrees, beating the old record of 71 degrees in 1986. This made four days in a row of record temperatures.

5/7 - Springfield 2 N (Clark County) ... A thunderstorm struck at 7:30 pm dropping the temperature by 9:30 pm from 75 to 60 degrees. Wind gust at the start of the storm to 46 m.p.h.

5/13 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... At 5:36 a.m.,  established a new record low temperature of 34 degrees. This broke the previous record low of 35 degrees set in 1996.

5/14-15 Springfield 2N (Clark County) ... Overnight rainfall (2030-0500 e.d.s.t. May 14-15, 2001) totaled .99 inch. With .08 inch before midnight and .91 inch after from rain.

5/20 - Springfield 2 N (Clark County) ... Rainfall (5-18-01) totaled 1.29 inches. For the 5 days (5-14 through 5-18-01) the total was 4.09 inches. For May, 2001 the total thus far is 4.93 inches bringing the total for 2001 thus far here to 13.83 inches. Both are above the station 33 year averages.

5/20 - Sabina (Fayette-Clinton County) ... Rainfall total from the 14th through the 19th amounted to 5.25 inches in the extreme southwest corner of Fayette county.

5/20 - Centerville 1W (Montgomery County) ... Rainfall accumulated to 2.76 inches between the 14th and 19th.

5/22 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... We had a total of 0.91" of rainfall for Tuesday. Thunder was heard many times and cloud to cloud lightning was also noted. Monday and Tuesday's total for rainfall was 1.59".     Frontal passage took place at about 1:00 p.m. with a peak gust of 25 mph at 1:02 p.m. and a burst of moderate rainfall.

Posted By the National Weather Service

5/22 - TWO TORNADOES OCCURRED IN NORTHEAST OHIO MONDAY EVENING (5/21). AN F2 TORNADO OCCURRED NEAR CHATHAM IN WESTERN MEDINA COUNTY BETWEEN 525 PM AND 540 PM MONDAY. THE TORNADO WAS NOT ON THE GROUND THE ENTIRE LENGTH OF 7.5 MILES. THE WIDTH OF THE TORNADO PATH WAS 250 FEET. TWO BARNS WERE DESTROYED...ONE BARN PARTIALLY DAMAGED...A PORTION OF A HOME DESTROYED AND A HOME UNDER CONSTRUCTION WAS DESTROYED...ALONG WITH NUMEROUS TREES WERE KNOCKED DOWN. A PICKUP TRUCK WAS TOSSED 500 FEET.AN F1 OCCURRED IN STARK COUNTY IN THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF CANTON AROUND 745 PM MONDAY. THE TORNADO PATH LENGTH WAS HALF A MILE AND THE WIDTH OF THE TORNADO PATH WAS 300 FEET. A ROOF WAS TAKEN OFF A GARAGE AND A WAREHOUSE. FIVE TRACTOR TRAILERS WERE FLIPPED OVER. AN F1 HAS WIND SPEED IN THE RANGE FROM 75-110 MPH AND AN F2 110-130 MPH.

5/23 - Cincinnati 5NW (Hamilton County) ... General rainfall has been 2 to 3 inches over the past week but especially east of town 3 to 6 inches has occurred. I have missed the heaviest. Still no single 24 hour period this year w/ 1 inch rain although surface moisture is much better.

5/27 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... At 3:17 a.m. this morning , we tied the record low temperature for the date. The record low of 41 degrees was established in 2000. It now has the year 2001 to share the record low temperature. Again, this mornings low of 41 ties the record low temperature established in 2000.

5/28 - Wooster 7N (Wayne County) ... Even though I have not had excessive amounts of rainfall like some parts of the state, I have received rainfall 12 out of the last 13 days. So far for the month we have had 3.89". With a lot of standing water in the fields and not being able to get in the fields with equipment for awhile, farmers are quite concerned they may have to reseed many areas that were seeded earlier in the spring because of the wet conditions and seed not germinating.

5/31 - Newcomerstown 1S (Tuscarawas County) ... At 5:23 a.m. this morning, this station established a new record low temperature of 37 degrees. This broke the previous record low temperature of 38 degrees established in 1996.

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