HAPPY VALLEY, OREGON, WEATHER: MAY 2018
TEMPERATURES
It was one of the warmest months of May with Mean Temperatures running nearly +5° departures from Normals. It was a rollercoaster of temperatures through the month, starting off chilly (May’s Low Maximum Temperature of 58.1° on the 1st), quickly jumping into the upper 70s on the 3rd, back into the 60s from 9th-11th, then soaring to the upper 80s on the 13th & 14th. This brief heat was followed by 60s 16th-19th, back to above 80°, then ending the month on a cool note with mostly 60s and a couple of 70s. As usual, Minimum Temperatures were not as variable, ranging from low 40s to begin and end the month, upwards to mid 50s here and there. With the chilly air to end the month, the second half ended up being a bit cooler, by average, than the first half. Splitting the month in two, the following Max/Min/Mean Temperatures were observed: 1st-15th 73.0°/50.4°/61.7°; 16th-31st 70.7°/50.1°/60.4°. The diurnal range averaged 21.5°, Max. was 35.2° (13th & 22nd), Min. was 9.5° (16th).
PRECIPITATION
Not only was this one of the warmest Mays on record, it was one of the driest. At this station, only 0.52″ was recorded, far below the Normal of 3.26″ for this location. Only 6 days had measurable rain (≥0.01″), with the longest dry streak being 17 days (nothing measurable from 11th-30th). From April 18th-May 31st, only 1.23″ fell. The total Calendar-Year-to-Date precipitation stands at 20.68″, the total Water-Year amount (beginning Oct. 1) is 40.05″, and the Seasonal amount (beginning July 1) is 44.10″.
≥0.25″: 0
≥0.50″: 0
≥1.00″: 0
MISCELLANEOUS
The month saw 9 Clear, 19 Partly Cloudy, and only 3 Cloudy days; 7 days had Fog (none of these being Heavy (≤ ¼ mile visibility)). The average wind speed was just 0.2 MPH and the Maximum Gust reached 12 MPH (29th). There were actually 2 consecutive days where the daily average was 0.0 MPH, the first occurrence since observations began here in May 2014. A very calm month, overall.
Link to the monthly Weather Form: Happy Valley Weather Form_May 2018
Cover Photo: Mt. Hood with Lenticular Cloud
2 thoughts on “HAPPY VALLEY, OREGON, WEATHER: MAY 2018”
Thanks Jeff. Looks like Mt Hood is wearing its hat today! Snow level still looks pretty low – I guess there is patchy cover at Timberline Lodge now after your warm month. Is it the resolution of the photo, my computer, or was it hazy on this day of the picture? I don’t think you all have started your fire season yet. Here in Maryland we are nice and wet to keep the fires at a minimum. The rest of the summer – we shall see…
Hi Kevin. It was a bit of a hazy day when I took that pic of Hood.
This morning’s report from Timberline shows the morning snow depth was 53”.
After very little precip here since mid-April, models are showing a fairly robust system (especially for June here) moving in on Friday, showing our area getting 0.50”-1.00”! Snow levels are expected to drop to about the 4000’ level so Timberline could get quite a dumping.