May 2010 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, May in Hood River was way cooler, wetter, and just-below-average windy.

The average temperature of 52.6° was cooler than long term averages (56.2°), and and lot cooler than more recent (2000-2009) averages of 58.5° . There was 2.16" of precipitation, double the average May total of 1.06". The 24 hour avg wind speed was slightly lower than average (3.6 mph vs 3.9 mph), continuing the trend of lower average wind speeds for the past 9 months.

May started off cool, followed by a brief warm spell in the middle (5 days, with a max of 80°), and cooled off again after that. Rain was scattered throughout the month, with an impressive rainstorm of 0.93" on the 3rd.

There were no local weather records set in May. However, we did have some really good downpours. The instantaneous rain rate of 3.49"/hour on May 19th was about as high as I can remember, and my memory goes back a long ways. Several months, at least.

The data below is from my home weather station. To view its May 2010 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2000 to 2009 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	80	36	52.6	56.2
Wind (mph)	33		3.6	3.9
Rainfall (in)	0.93		2.16 (total)	1.06

Summer in Hood River? Soon. Heaven in Hood River? Here and now.