A month after Milwaukee had its wettest April on record, the city had its driest May.
Milwaukee had just 0.36 inches of rain in May, beating the previous record low of 0.41 inches set in 1885, more than 140 years ago, according to the National Weather Service. In April, 9.49 inches of precipitation fell in the city.
There were 22 days in May with no measurable rainfall at all, and five more days with nearly nothing. Sunday, May 21 saw 0.21 inches of rain fall in Milwaukee, which accounted for more than half of city’s showers for the month. There were 11 days with 0.21 inches of precipitation or more in April.
Though April and May stood back-to-back as historic months for weather, Michaela Heeren, a National Weather Service meteorologist said they were independent in their record-setting numbers. Rather than one influencing the other, they were subject to diametrically opposed pressure systems.
“We had two distinct weather patterns, one in April and one in May,” Heeren said.
A low-pressure system stalled over Milwaukee in April, bringing heavy rainfall. Heeren said a jet stream over southern Wisconsin steered record-setting thunderstorms towards the region.
“Going into May, we saw that pattern break down,” she said.
But in May, a high-pressure system dictated weather in Milwaukee, bringing drier conditions with it. There were no winds strong enough to push the system away, so it hung around for an extended time.
After two record-setting months, June has arrived. June is historically Milwaukee’s wettest month, averaging about 3.6 inches of precipitation since 1871.
However, according to the Climate Prediction Center’s most recent monthly outlook, June is expected to bring below-average amounts of precipitation to Milwaukee.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: After a wet April, Milwaukee dried out in May in record-setting fashion
Reporting by Lance Schulteis, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
