Monthly Climatological Summary Norman 3SE, Cleveland Co., OK (Lat 35^10'57"N, Lon 97^25'27"W, elev 1130) May 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Temperature Precipitation Snow AM PM Max Min Water Snow Depth Wx Wx ------------------------------------------------------------------ 01 64.6 46.8 T 0.0 0 -DZ SCT 02 76.1 40.8 .00 0.0 0 SKC FEW 03 71.2 41.0 .00 0.0 0 SKC SKC 04 82.9 55.6 .00 0.0 0 SKC SKC 05 83.7 57.9 .00 0.0 0 SKC SKC 06 84.6 59.4 .00 0.0 0 SKC SCT 07 84.0 61.7 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 08 86.4 61.7 .00 0.0 0 SKC SCT 09 82.9 62.8 .00 0.0 0 BKN SCT 10 86.2 62.8 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 11 86.2 67.5 .01 0.0 0 BKN SHRA 12 87.6 67.8 T 0.0 0 -DZ SCT 13 84.2 48.2 .36 T* 0 BKN +TSRA GR 14 64.8 46.2 .00 0.0 0 OVC SCT 15 74.8 45.3 .00 0.0 0 SKC FEW 16 81.3 55.8 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 17 84.7 64.0 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 18 88.5 67.6 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 19 88.9 70.0 .00 0.0 0 BKN SCT 20 90.0 69.4 .00 0.0 0 SCT SCT 21 87.6 70.0 .00 0.0 0 BKN SCT 22 86.2 69.8 .00 0.0 0 BKN SCT 23 94.8 71.6 .00 0.0 0 BKN BKN 24 89.4 71.1 T 0.0 0 BKN -TSRA 25 83.5 67.5 .00 0.0 0 BKN OVC 26 91.6 66.2 T 0.0 0 -RA BKN 27 85.6 67.6 .02 0.0 0 BKN -TSRA 28 90.0 63.3 .00 0.0 0 SKC SCT 29 89.4 68.7 .00 0.0 0 BKN SCT 30 87.3 66.7 .00 0.0 0 BKN FEW 31 88.3 52.2 .00 0.0 0 SKC SKC KEY TO AM/PM WX: SKC - sky clear, FEW - few clouds, SCT - partly cloudy, BKN - mostly cloudy, OVC - overcast, RA - rain, SHRA - rain shower, DZ - drizzle, TSRA - thunderstorm with rain, GR - hail. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Means and Totals for May 2004 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Average Maximum Temperature: 84.1 Average Minimum Temperature: 60.9 Mean Temperature: 72.5 Maximum Temperature: 94.8 (5-23-04) Minimum Temperature: 40.8 (5-02-04) Days with max temperature 90.0F+: 4 Year: 4 Days with max temperature <32.0F: 0 Year: 2 Days with min temperature <32.0F: 0 Year: 35 Days with min temperature <0.0F: 0 Year: 0 Precipitation: .39 Year: 9.38 Greatest one-day precipitation: .36 (5-13-04) Snowfall: T* Year: T Greatest one-day snowfall: T* (5-13-04) Maximum snow depth at midnight: 0 Days with measureable pcpn: 3 Year: 37 Days with pcpn 1.00"+: 0 Year: 2 Days with measureable snowfall: 0 Year: 0 Days with snowfall 1"+: 0 Year: 0 Days with glaze ice: 0 Year: 2 Days with damaging wind: 0 Year: 1 Days with hail: 1 Year: 2 Days with thunderstorms: 3 Year: 16 Days with fog: 0 Year: 13
NOTICE: All temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit and all precipitation values in inches. Snowfall totals denoted by an asterisk indicate hail.
Summary....May 2004 was about as dry and storm free as you get this time of year in central Oklahoma. Moisture was slow to recover over the area the first week of the month following yet another strong cold frontal passage on the 1st. Then a strong subtropical ridge set in around the middle of the month, with the main jet stream way up in the northern Plains. The only widespread outbreak of storms to hit the state during the month was on the 13th as a cold front moved south across the state. The jet stream dipped far enough south during the last week of the month to allow isolated supercells to form across western Oklahoma on the 24th, 26th, and 29th. The storm on the 29th was especially long lasting, forming near Elk City around 4pm and continuing northeast until it got to the Arkansas border at 3am the next morning. As it crossed the state, it dropped hail up to 5 inches in diameter, produced winds over 100 mph, and dropped as many as 14 tornadoes. The storm on the 29th stayed well north of Norman however, as we and many other locations in the state had one of our driest Mays on record.
Turlock CA nearly had as much rain as Norman during the month, recording .18 inch of rain (all on the 28th). This brought the season rainfall total for Turlock up to 10.01 inches, making 2003-04 the 12th year in a row Turlock has received 10 or more inches of rain.