Memorial Day Weather History/Extremes for Grand Island, NE (1896-2024)

Memorial Day (once known as Decoration Day) has been observed on the last Monday in May since 1971, and thus ranges in date from May 25-31 (prior to 1971, Memorial Day was always observed May 30th).  In South Central Nebraska, late-May weather conditions vary from spring-like to summer-like, and thunderstorms (sometimes severe) pay a semi-regular visit. The majority of Memorial Days across the local area feature high temperatures somewhere between the upper-60s and upper-80s, while morning lows usually dip between the mid-40s and low-60s.  However, in just the past 30 years, Memorial Day high temps in Grand Island have ranged all the way from 56-99°! This story features a wealth of Memorial Day weather and climate information focused specifically on Grand Island, where weather records date back 129 years to 1896.

Temperatures: According to the entire period of record, the hottest Memorial Day in Grand Island was 103° in 1934, and the coolest daytime high was 54° in 1915. As for low temperatures, the chilliest on record was 36° in 1947, and the mildest was 72° in 1934. Only 12-of-129 Memorial Days on record (9%) have featured high temperatures of 90° or hotter (most recently in 2023). The century mark (100°+) has only been breached twice (most recently 1989), and only six Memorial Days have failed to reach 60° (most recently 1997).

Rainfall: The wettest Memorial Day on record was 1935 with 2.97". Measurable rain (0.01" or more) has been recorded in 52 of the 129 years, or 40% of the time.  However, in recent years a slightly rainier trend has emerged, as 9 of the last 14 holidays have featured measurable rain at some point during the calendar day. The 1.60" that fell five years ago in 2020 was the first 1"-or-more rain on Memorial Day in 43 years (since 1977). 

Severe Thunderstorms (recent past):  Grand Island has now gone 13 straight years without enduring any truly severe thunderstorms on Memorial Day (a fortunate streak given the time of year!). The last time SEVERE thunderstorms directly impacted the Grand Island area on Memorial Day was 14 years ago (May 30, 2011), when an evening squall line produced a peak gust of 74 MPH at the airport, causing several reports of tree and structural damage across town. Six years ago (May 27, 2019) featured a somewhat "close call", as an evening severe storm dropped hail up to ping pong ball size in Kearney, but this storm remained "safely" west of Grand Island. 

NON-Thunderstorm High Winds (recent past): Although breezy to moderately-windy conditions are not that unusual on Memorial Day, three years ago (May 30, 2022) was likely the overall-windiest holiday in quite some time as a strong low pressure system tracked across Nebraska. The morning started off with southerly winds gusting 30-40 MPH ahead of an approaching cold front/dryline. However, winds cranked up another notch behind the dryline during the afternoon, with several hours of west-southwest sustained speeds 30-35+ MPH/frequent gusts 40-50+ MPH. At Central Nebraska Regional Airport, the daily peak gust of 58 MPH occurred at 217 PM. 

* 2024 Memorial Day Recap for Grand Island (fairly windy, but otherwise very "normal") *

Memorial Day 2024 (May 27th) was honestly pretty unremarkable weather-wise, especially considering that it featured widespread sunshine and no rainfall/thunderstorms, and also the fact that both the afternoon high temperature of 79° and also the morning low temperature of 52° were about as "normal" as could be for late-May.

Really, the only "catch" to an otherwise wonderful weather day were the winds, as particularly the 11 AM-7 PM time frame featured moderately-windy conditions...commonly sustained 15-25 MPH/gusts 25-35 MPH out of the northwest. However, on either side of this windier time frame, the morning started and the evening ended with noticeably lighter breezes. 

Memorial Day Normals/Extremes for Grand Island (1896-2024):

The 10 Most Recent Memorial Days in Grand Island (2015-2024):