May

May began as April had ended...high, dry and mild! One spurt of storms occurred on the 4th, but mainly sunshine lingered until the 6th. A storm system reminded us it was still spring, with 40s and rain. A late-season frost occurred on the morning of the 7th, before we warmed right back and got sunny through the 11th.

Things turned decidedly unsettled after this point. Strong storms impacted Madison County on the 12th, then west of Syracuse on the 13th. Off and on rain occurred from the 14th through the 23rd! The Hall of Fame game was rained out in Cooperstown on the 15th. Just prior to that, parts of New England were pummeled with heavy rain. This radar image out of Boston shows how parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts saw a round of significant flooding:

For us, we had one shot of severe weather on the 18th, which saw up to 1/2" diameter hail fall on Ilion. The 21st featured bizzare May weather. A cold front ushered in some chilly air. In fact, it became cold enough by afternoon for rain showers to change to snow and graupel showers! Some hilltops even saw a dusting of snow from this. The 22nd only saw us get to 47, setting a new record low maximum temperature for the date. Finally, nice weather arrived by the 24th and 25th. A few showers or storms, but general warm weather occurred as we headed toward Memorial Day weekend. A weak band of storms dropped into the North Country on the morning of the 28th and actually created an awesome radar effect out ahead of them (Warning: 1 MB image).You can actually pick out the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks. Then, after a 91 degree record high on the Tuesday after Memorial Day, severe thunderstorms with hail and wind damage occurred, especially north and east of Utica. Round 2 occurred on the 31st, delivering 1-3" of rain and damage to Otsego and Madison Counties.