Listen up weather geeks: May 2015 was a wacky month for weather. While precipitation in the United States set an all-time record, around the world it was the warmest May ever. In its latest update, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the world's average surface temperature was up 1.57 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th-century average in May.
According to the new data, nearly all regions of the earth were warmer than average in May. Search out the few cool spots on the map above and you'll see cooler temperatures in the central United States, a small patch near Greenland, and northeastern Asia.
So while it was dumping buckets of rain in Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico, areas like Alaska, northern Scandinavia and parts of the equatorial Pacific Ocean were extra hot. Alaska in particular was a hot spot, recording its warmest May on record with an average temperature 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.
NOAA also reports that 2015 could end up as the warmest year ever for the planet; the average year to date temperature for Earth was above average.
And while all the moisture made for a great May at Colorado's Arapahoe Basin, the snow cover for the northern hemisphere was abysmal. The Rutgers Global Snow lab says that North America had its third smallest May snow cover on record, partly fueled by the intense drought in California. Just take a look at this chart:
Let the comment wars begin, Curbediverse.
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