National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heat Continues for the East and South-Central U.S.; Strong to Severe Storms Across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

The extremely dangerous heat wave continues across the East Coast and much of the South-Central U.S. today. Record high temperatures are expected for some areas especially across the Mid-Atlantic where extreme heat risk conditions reside. There is a Slight Risk (level 2 of 5) of severe thunderstorms today for the northern Mid-Atlantic into portions of southern New England. Read More >

May 2015


Overall, May was warm and dry, and a fairly quiet month.  There were no tornadoes, and only two instances of marginally severe hail when hailstones the size of quarters fell on Pleasure Ridge Park and Jeffersontown in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on the 27th.  Wind damage was reported on 5 days out of the month.  The most widespread damage occurred on the 11th when two squall lines crossed the region.  The first came through during the mid-afternoon hours, and the second that evening.  Most of the damage was east of I-65.

Temperatures were generally seasonable, with the usual flucuations we see in the springtime.  We had a spell of warm weather from the 5th to the 11th when most days were more than 10 degrees warmer than normal.  On the other side of the coin, many locations dropped into the 40s and even the mid and upper 30s on the morning of the 21st.

  Average Temperature Departure from Normal Rainfall Departure from Normal
Bowling Green 69.0° +2.6° 2.96" -2.65"
Frankfort 67.7° +3.8° 0.92" -3.93"
Lexington 67.9° +3.7° 2.07" -3.19"
Louisville Bowman 69.3° +3.0° 2.27" -2.85"
Louisville International 70.7° +3.6° 2.38" -2.89"

 

Records

16th:  Record rainfall at Bowling Green, 1.46".

3rd driest May on record at Frankfort

 

Spring 2015
 

  Average Temperature Departure from Normal Precipitation Departure from Normal Snowfall Departure from Normal
Bowling Green 58.8° +1.3° 18.31" +4.06" 7.2" +6.0"
Frankfort 55.6° +0.9° 19.84" +6.92"    
Lexington 56.1° +1.1° 20.94" +8.01" 17.1" +15.4"
Louisville Bowman 57.7° +0.9° 18.84" +5.48"    
Louisville International 59.2° +1.6° 21.02" +7.57" 11.9" +10.4"

 

Records

8th snowiest spring at Bowling Green

5th wettest spring at Frankfort
9th wettest season at Frankfort

2nd snowiest spring at Lexington
4th wettest spring at Lexington

9th warmest spring at Louisville
7th wettest spring at Louisville
6th snowiest spring at Louisville

 

Near Mount Washington on May 29.  aeronautipod via Twitter