The Nations Weather

NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:

In the East, showers and a few thunderstorms occurred ahead of a cold front over northern New England. Activity increased in coverage during the day and produced half an inch diameter hail in Montgomery, Vermont. Trees were toppled in a few locations in Aroostook, ME. Further south, showers and thunderstorms rolled across the Appalachians and into the Delmarva region during the morning hours. Washington, DC picked up 0.23 inches of rain. Meanwhile, widely scattered showers and thunderstorms developed by late morning over the southern third of Florida bringing moderate lightning and locally heavy downpours.

Across the central U.S., people across the northern Great Lakes woke up to record lows. Pellston, MI set a new record low of 25 degrees. Other sites the reported new records were Marquette, MI and Rhinelander, WI with 29, and International Falls, MN with 30 degrees. During the pre-dawn hours showers and thunderstorms rumbled across the Dakotas and northern MN. These spread east into the Great Lakes during the day. Winds were fairly strong over the Dakotas, gusting over 40 mph behind the wet weather. Later in the afternoon, thunderstorms developed along a cold front across WI, MN, SD, and into NE. Many pea to nickel size hail reports came in from SD and NE. Golf ball sized hail was report just northeast of Mitchell, SD. Overnight, thunderstorms continued to rumble across NE, southern MN, WI, and developed rapidly across IA and northern IL. Afternoon thunderstorms once again erupted across western and central Texas.

In the West, isolated to widely scattered showers and thunderstorms developed by early afternoon across the Rockies and southern Cascades. There were no severe weather reports with most of the activity diminishing before Midnight. The activity stayed away from the coastal locations. Seattle wrapped up its fourth wettest May on record, despite remaining dry the last several days.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)...........110 Death Valley, CA

HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)............102 Memphis, TN

LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............21 Spincich Lake, MI

LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............21 Spincich Lake, MI

............................................. Chippewa, MI

HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH)....................62 Brainerd, MN

HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)...........0.73 Elkins, WV

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:

In 1903, a tornado swept through New Holland, GA and hit the Gainesville Cotton Mill. A total of 104 people were killed in the tornado.

In 1980, in Falmouth, ME lightning struck a blind man, restoring his eyesight. The man had been blind and partially deaf since a truck accident in 1971.

In 1987, severe thunderstorms produced baseball size hail around Otterbein IN, Sarona WI, and Danville IL. Two inches of hail covered the ground and destroyed 5000 acres of corn and soybeans north of Danville.

DTN/Meteorlogix

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