Weekend Weather Blog: May in review

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — May brought a lot of good news to southern Idaho as far as the drought goes.

Drought comparison Courtesy - University of Nebraska, Lincoln(UNL)

The above image shows just how much we’ve improved since the end of April, with areas along the Snake River seeing downgrades from a severe drought (dark orange) to a moderate drought (light orange). Some areas around the region are still experiencing an extreme drought - namely eastern Blaine and southern Twin Falls counties.

Nonetheless, it’s safe to say we’ve improved. All three climate reporting stations across the viewing area saw above average precipitation for the month of May. Twin Falls saw 1.7″ of rain, 0.24″ above the normal of 1.46″. Burley saw 2.24″ of rain, 0.55″ above the normal of 1.69″. Jerome saw 0.62″ of rain, 0.3″ above the normal of 0.32″.

All of this precipitation was great news over the last two months, and this trend is looking to continue over the next few days, as an atmospheric river will make its way into the area on Sunday.

While precipitation was slightly above average, temperatures were slightly below average, making May continue the cooler trend we’ve seen in 4 of the last 5 months.

In Twin Falls, the average high for May of 2022 was 64°F. This as 4.7° below the normal of 68.7°F. Jerome saw an average high of 65.1°F, 4.4° below the normal of 69.5°F. Burley saw an average high of 63.4°F, 5.7° below the normal of 69.1°F.

There’s no doubt this past spring has been almost the complete opposite of last year’s spring, and that’s a welcome sign for a lot of people. Next week’s Weekend Weather Blog will touch on how the region faire for the entire March-May period, also known as ‘Meteorological Spring.’

For now, let’s keep hoping for more moisture for the remainder of the summer.