May 2017 Weather and Climate Summary and Forecast

Cool and relatively wet conditions continued throughout the western US in April. The general pattern in temperatures in April was cooler than normal from central California eastward to Utah and northward into nearly all of Oregon, Washington and Idaho (Figure 1). Temperatures in this area were 0.5-3.5°F below normal while southern California across the desert SW remained above normal. The cool conditions throughout the PNW and even California have slowed bud break and spring growth to average conditions compared to the past few years. Fortunately, to this point there has been little to no frost pressure, unlike the devastating events of late April throughout much of Europe. For the rest of the United States, the northern Great Plains were near normal to cooler than normal, while the rest of the south, southeast, Great Lakes, and east coast were 2-5°F warmer than normal (not shown).

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