Oklahoma tornado number is nearly half the May average

The number of tornadoes this May in Oklahoma was nearly half the average for the month and just one-eighth of last year's record-setting May total.

According top reli mi nary data, only 13 tornadoes were recorded in the state in May, nearly half of the 24.4 state average, state climatologist Gary McManus said in his monthly weather summary released Monday.

That number is also one-eighth the record 105 tornadoes in May 2019.

"There was still the normal offering of large hail , damaging winds, and flash flooding, but the twister count was below average," McManus said.

The 2020 preliminary total of 33 also falls below the January-May average of 41, he said.

"Cool weather dominated a good part of May, and possibly robbed Mother Nature of the heat needed for her most exotic springtime menu item: tornadoes," he said.

The May tornado average is the highest of any month in the state, foll owed by April with an average of 11.7 tornadoes and June with 7.4.

The record number of tornadoes for June is 28, set in 1995. There were no tornadoes in June in 1987, 2003, 2012, 2013 and 2016, according to National Weather Service statewide tornado statistics from 1950 to the present.

This May both began and ended with summer-like conditions ," but sandwiched in between was an extended period of much cooler than normal weather," McManus said.

"Temperatures soared into the 80 sand90s the first few days of the month, while the southwest saw triple-digits."

The airport at Frederick in southwest Oklahoma reached 108 degrees on May 4 to become the highest temperature ever recorded in the state that early in the year, topping

Buffalo' s 107 degrees from May 1, 1992, he said.

The statewide average precipitation total was 5.04 inches according to the Oklahoma Mesonet ,0.22 inches above normal and ranked as the 50th wettest May since records began in 1895, McManus said.

According to the Climate Prediction Center, northeast Oklahoma has a 40% chance of having abovenormal precipitation June-August, and equal chances of above-normal, average or below-normal temperatures.

The June outlook is for above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation.