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SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — Feeling soggy? Federal officials calculate that last month was the wettest on record for the contiguous United States.
On average 4.36 inches of rain and snow fell over the Lower 48 in May, sloshing past October 2009, which had been the previous record-holder with 4.29 inches. Records go back to 1895.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration climate scientist Jake Crouch calculated that comes to more than 200 trillion gallons of water in May.
Crouch said the record was triggered by a stalled pattern of storms that dumped massive amounts of rain in the central U.S., especially in Texas and Oklahoma, which had their rainiest months. Still, parts of the Northeast were unusually dry.
Last month was 1.45 inches wetter than 20th-century average for May. Hutchinson’s 7.72 inches was only the fourth-highest rainfall amount in May.
The Garden City Experiment Station recorded 6.38 inches last month, the fourth wettest May on record. A year ago, the station recorded just 0.63 inch in May.
Dodge City’s 10.33 inches was the wettest May since 12.82 inches fell in 1881. Wichita, with 11.77 inches, and Great Bend, with 10.36 inches, both had the second wettest May, while Kanopolis Lake, Tribune and Colby recorded their third most rain in May.
But Lebo, in Coffey County, recorded the wettest month since 1893 with 15.53 inches in May.