Weather update: cool spring

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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We may be in the midst of a fracking heat wave, but Asheville’s National Climatic Data Center says we had a cool spring:

The March-May spring season was the 36th coolest on record for the contiguous United States, according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. Separately, last month ended as the 34th coolest May for the contiguous United States, based on records dating back to 1895.

The average spring temperature of 51.4 degrees F was 0.5 degree F below the 20th century average. The average May temperature of 60.3 degrees F was 0.7 degree F below the 20th century mean, based on preliminary data.

U.S. Temperature Highlights

The March-May temperatures were cooler than average from the Northwest and extending throughout the central Plains and upper Mississippi Valley. In all, 19 states had a cooler-than-average spring.
Twenty-five states were cooler than average for May. Pennsylvania was much cooler than average and ranked eighth coolest.
The unusually cool temperatures kept the nation’s overall temperature-related residential energy demand for May above average. Based on NOAA’s Residential Energy Demand Temperature Index, contiguous U.S. temperature-related energy demand was approximately 3.5 percent above average in May, but near average for the spring season.
Florida, Texas, and Washington were warmer than average for May.