Ron's Weather Blog: May Marked 16th Straight Month Of Above Average Temps

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Well, at least it was close.  We wrap up May as the 16th straight month where the City of Pittsburgh has recorded above the monthly average temps.

The streak started in February 2016 as global El Nino wind pushed global temperatures to the hottest on record.  This year, temps haven't been as warm as the same time last year, but the streak still continues. Moving into next month, it appears that temperatures will remain at or just above normal for the month.

Let's take a quick look back at the month.  The average monthly temperature (high plus low divided by two) was 60.6 degrees, which is a half a degree warmer than the monthly average.  The hottest day of the month was on May 17, when we hit 80 degrees. We only hit 80 degrees five times in May. We failed to hit 60 degrees six times, including May 6 when we only hit 48 degrees for a high.  On May 9, we fell to a chilly 33 degrees.

The heaviest rain of the month came early, on the May 5, when a powerful system brought with it 0.89 inches of rain at the airport. But, there was a bunch of near misses at the airport, including this past weekend where parts of western Pennsylvania received 2-3 inches of rain.

In all, May was a wet month with only 10 days completely dry at the Pittsburgh airport. No surprise that the airport recorded 5.15 inches of rain for the month. That's 1.2 inches more than the monthly average.

Looking ahead to June, the average high temperature for the month is 68.7 degrees.

It's gotten as hot as 98 degrees in June and as low as 34, so once again, the month could throw really all types of weather our way. The Climate Prediction Center has us at an equal chance of seeing temperatures warmer or colder for the month although they also have the next two weeks running below average.

I also have temperatures over the next week and a half running about 2 degrees below the monthly average, so if we plan on making it 17 straight weeks with above average monthly temperatures, it looks like we are going to have some work to do on the back half of the month to catch up and pass the average.