May so far has been a roller coaster for highs and lows, with just below zero for the first night of the month and a glorious stretch of… three days! … when the daytime high hovered around 20 degrees Celsius. And it was wet.
The average temperature for the month-to-date ended up being on the cool side at 12.9 C, while the average temperature for May is 14.3 C. The forecast is for the roller coaster to continue, with some varied weather in store for the coming week with highs in the mid-twenties, and then back to below-average temperatures for the remainder of the month.
The corn heat unit count (CHU) is off to a tentative start, given that very little corn has been planted. So far, 78 CHU have been recorded for 2025, starting on May 6.
There has been lots of rain, though. There were 43 millimetres of rain in the first 10 days of the month, which is evident by the puddles in the fields and a major reason not much corn has been planted. Since the beginning of April, precipitation has been almost 30 per cent above normal.
The season has been slow to get going, with the leaves unfurling in what seems like slow motion from day to day; even the grass seems reluctant to “burst forth” in its usual spring rush. So far for 2025, the year is average across the board, with average temperature 0.1 C above normal, and average precipitation (rain and melted snow) right on the average.