WASHINGTON – The March through May period was the third warmest spring on record for the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Friday.
The average temperature for the 48 contiguous states was 54.7 degrees Fahrenheit, the agency said. That’s 2.9 degrees warmer than average for those three months in records going back to 1895.
The warmest spring on record was 54.9 degrees in 1910. Second was 2000 at 54.75 degrees.
Of the 48 contiguous states, only Florida was near normal for the period this year, NOAA said. Thirty states were much above average for the three months, and 17 others were above average.
For Oklahoma and Kansas, it was the warmest spring on record.
NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center also reported that the Southeast and parts of the West were unusually dry during spring, but precipitation was above average in the Great Lakes region.
In addition to the Great Lakes, wetter than average conditions occurred in parts of the Deep South and Northeast. Michigan had its wettest spring on record.
The center noted that severe storm outbreaks in May led to several deaths from tornadoes and significant storm damage in parts of the Midwest and South. A preliminary estimate of tornado numbers from the NOAA Storm Prediction Center indicates about 500 occurred during the month. The record of 543 was recorded in May 2003.
Moderate drought reappeared in the Southeast during spring with some modest agricultural impacts beginning to be felt.
Below average spring precipitation also occurred in many areas of the West, where drought has persisted for much of the past four to five years, NOAA reported. The lack of snowfall and warmer than average temperatures resulted in rapid snowmelt, leaving mountain snowpack levels below average in most parts of the West.
Reservoir levels also remained below average in many areas. Sixty-seven percent of the western United States was in moderate to extreme drought at the end of spring.
Worldwide, it was the fourth-warmest spring on record.
While spring as measured by astronomers has not yet ended, meteorologists consider the season to be the months of March, April and May.
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