Record rains

Most residents in flood-ravaged parts of America’s southern Plains won’t argue with the finding that May turned out to be the wettest month since record-keeping began 121 years ago. The average rainfall for the month across the contiguous United States was 4.36 inches, or 1.45 inches greater than average. NOAA climate scientist Jake Crouch calculated that more than 200 trillion gallons of water fell from the American sky during May. Despite the Texas and Oklahoma deluges during the month, the states of Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and South Carolina each recorded a top-10 driest May ever.