If you thought May’s weather was bleak, you’re right. But it wasn’t the bleakest May the town has seen.
“May 2021 was somewhat gloomier than average, but 2012 and 1952 were way worse,” meteorologist Jim Green of Haines said this week.
Green maintains one of the two official weather stations in Haines. Using temperature and daily precipitation statistics, he’s developed what he calls a Relative Gloom Index. On a scale with average weather scoring a zero, May’s gloom score hit 6.1 compared to 11.8 for the month in 1952 and 11.5 in 2012.
“2012 and 1952 were about the gloomiest I could find and 2015 (-7.2 on the index) and 1915 (-9.9) were about the warmest and driest. There are quite a few years with no data, so these rankings are not comprehensive,” Green noted.
May’s average high was 54.5 F., five degrees colder than the historic average. At 2.82 inches, precipitation for May – typically Haines’ driest month – was .62 inches above average.
In 1952, the average high for May was 49 degrees and 2012, six inches of rain fell in May. This year, May brought 17 days of precipitation .01 inches or above, compared to 10 days for an average May.
“May can go either way. It can be darn nice, but if there’s no sun, it can be cool,” Green said.
Memorial Day saw grim weather around the state, including snow in Delta Junction, he said.