The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😜
Here is a new feature for this blog, which I will add daily. This is the latest inciteful Green News Report from my friends Desi Doyen and Brad Friedman at Progressive Voices. Hit ‘continue reading,’ listen, then hit return to see my daily topics:
Main Topic: U.S. May and Spring 2026 Record Scoreboard and Climatological Review
Dear Diary. It’s time for our monthly climatological review. Here on this site, we usually present monthly summaries near the 8th of each month, and each is available by clicking the link below:
https://guyonclimate.com/category/record-scoreboard-climatological-reviews
I’m repeating this mantra every month:
May 2026 got ranked by the National Center for Environmental Information for the lower 48 states as 28th warmest or 105th coolest since records began being kept in 1895 at +1.51°F above the 1901-2000 average.
Spring 2026 got ranked by the National Center for Environmental Information for the lower 48 states as 2nd warmest or 131st coolest since records began being kept in 1895 at +4.88°F above the 1901-2000 average. The spring of 2012 was warmest.
The above data was from:
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/national/rankings
During May the warmest conditions were in the western portions of the nation. Amazingly, many western states had their record warmest spring. In May most reports of record warmth came from the West and Florida during the entire month and Northeast during the third week of the month. Most reports of record chill occurred across the Midwest during the first half of the month, the Southeast the third week of the month, and Northeast during the last week of the month.
You can check out record totals for yourself on my NCEI record archives:
NCEI Record Count Archive – Guy On Climate
Here are my two U.S. Daily Record Scoreboards updated through 6/06/2025 (data compiled from the following NCEI site):
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records
I’m also keeping tabs on record report totals to verify a scientific study I helped to complete in the decade of the 2000s. We’ll eventually see how skewed ratios of record warm to cold reports get by the year 2100, which the study mentions as 50-1 for DHMX vs. DLMN:
DHMX= Daily High Max Reports. DLMN= Daily Low Min Reports. DHMN= Daily High Min Reports. DLMX=Daily Low Max Reports.
Boldly highlighted red, blue, or purple colored months, such as December 2023 and June 2021, that have ratios of >10 to 1 daily or <1 to 10 of daily warm to low records are either historically hot or cold, most of which have made news. NCEI rankings are for the lower 48 states with the warmest ranking since 1895 of average temperatures being 132 and 1 being the coldest as of 2026. Blue colors represent cold months and red warm. Those months and years with counts close to a 1 to 1 ratio of highs to lows are colored black. All-time record hottest or coldest months and years are boldly colored in purple. NCDC rankings have been color coded (under tabs in each file) such that values of 55 to 75 are black representing neutral months or years (+ or – 10 from the average ranking of 64).
Totals are record reports for the entire United States including all territories minus those from Alaska. I’ve subtracted those from Alaska to get a better representation of what has occurred across the lower 48 states in association with lower 48 state rankings.
May 2026 had approximately a 13 to 6 ratio of record DHMX to DLMN individual record counts, so the color I used for that month was red on the top chart.
May 2026 had approximately a 16 to 7 ratio of record DHMN to DLMX individual record counts, so the color I used for that month was red on the bottom chart.
Due to climate change, we are seeing fewer blue colors on these Record Scoreboards with time.
The average temperature lower 48 state ranking for May 2026 was 105 (28th warmest on record), which was colored red since it was warmer than average. We are seeing fewer blue colors on my charts, and May 2026 was yet another red or warm month.
I color rankings of +10 to -10 from the average ranking for the lower 48 states of 65 black, indicating that these are near average temperature wise. The top warmest ranking for 2026 would be 132 since rankings began in 1895.
June 2026 has gotten off to a neutral start for most of the nation. This week we will see well above average near record warmth in the Midwest with a warming trend across the South. Overall, June should be above average, but I doubt that it makes the top ten warmest list, though, looking at met models.
Interestingly, here is what we see as far as overall yearly ratios go for the 2020s so far. Warmth is key here:
We now have 6 out of 10 full years’ worth of data for the 2020s. Interestingly, 2024 stands out as the second warmest year, which was also the year with a strong El Niño. Wd are now seeing the warmest year, so far, which will get pegged as another year with a strong El Niño.
Here is much more detailed climatology for May 2026 as complied by NOAA:
Assessing the U.S. Temperature and Precipitation Analysis in May 2026
Second-warmest spring on record for the contiguous U.S.
Published
June 8, 2026
Key Takeaways:
- Widespread spring warmth: More than half of the states experienced a spring (March–May) that ranked among their three warmest in the 132-year record, with Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas each recording their warmest spring on record. Meanwhile, Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania each ranked in the coldest third of their records for May.
- Dry start to the year: Despite regions of above-average precipitation, the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) recorded its sixth-driest January–May on record and its driest since 1988.
- Drought remained widespread: Although drought conditions improved across parts of the South, more than half of the CONUS remained in drought at the beginning of June.
- Hawaiʻi experienced its wettest spring: The island chain observed its wettest spring in the 36-year record, receiving more than double its average spring precipitation.
- Cold spring in Alaska: Alaska experienced its coldest spring since 2013, at 2.2°F below its 1925–2000 average, contrasting with the widespread warmth across the CONUS.
Map of the U.S. notable weather and climate events in May 2026.
Other Highlights:
Temperature
The CONUS average temperature during May was 61.7°F, 1.5°F above the 20th-century average, ranking in the warmest third of the 132-year record. Much of the western third of the CONUS experienced above-average temperatures, with portions of the Northwest recording much-above-average warmth. In contrast, areas east of the Plains saw mostly near- or below-average temperatures, with the notable exception of the southern Florida Peninsula, which experienced one of its warmest Mays on record. Statewide, Oregon tied its fifth-warmest May and Washington ranked seventh warmest, while Florida tied its sixth-warmest May on record. Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania each ranked in the coldest third of their records for May.
May 2026 U.S. Mean Temperature Percentiles Map.
For meteorological spring (March–May), the average temperature across the CONUS was 55.8°F, 4.9°F above the 20th-century average, ranking as the second-warmest spring on record and the warmest since 2012. Except for portions of the northern tier, most of the CONUS experienced much-above-average spring temperatures. All CONUS states experienced above-average temperatures, including 20 states that averaged at least 5°F above their 20th-century mean. Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas each recorded their warmest spring on record, with Arizona and New Mexico exceeding their previous records by more than 1°F.
Across Alaska, the average temperature in May was 38.4°F, 0.6°F above the 1925–2000 average, ranking in the middle third of the 102-year record. For spring as a whole, Alaska’s average temperature was 21.8°F, 2.2°F below average, ranking in the coolest third of the record and the coldest spring since 2013.
Hawaiʻi’s average temperature for May was 66.5°F, 0.3°F above the 1991–2020 average, ranking in the middle third of the 36-year record. For spring, Hawaiʻi tied its third-warmest spring on record with an average temperature of 65.9°F, 1.1°F above average. The island chain also recorded its warmest average spring minimum temperature on record, at 2.3°F above average.
Precipitation
Total precipitation averaged across the CONUS during May was 2.86 inches, 0.05 inch below the 20th-century average, ranking in the middle third of the 132-year record. The month was characterized by drier-than-average conditions across much of the interior West and Rockies, as well as portions of the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes. In contrast, above-average precipitation fell across portions of the Gulf Coast, Deep South, Southeast, Ohio Valley and Northeast. Statewide, Idaho, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan each received about half of their average May precipitation and ranked among their 10 driest Mays on record. Meanwhile, several southern states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, received more than 160% of their average May precipitation.
May 2026 U.S. Total Precipitation Percentiles.
For spring (March–May), the CONUS precipitation total was 7.43 inches, 0.50 inch below average, ranking in the driest third of the 132-year record. Despite the deficits observed in May, parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes recorded much-above-average spring precipitation, with Michigan experiencing its wettest spring on record. In contrast, much of the West, Southwest and Rockies, along with western portions of the Plains, experienced a particularly dry spring. Parts of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic also recorded much-below-average March–May precipitation, including North Carolina and Delaware, which each had their third-driest spring on record.
Alaska’s average May precipitation was 3.03 inches, 0.92 inch above the 1925–2000 average, ranking as the fifth-wettest May in the 102-year record. For spring, precipitation was near average across the state, ranking in the middle third of the record.
Hawaiʻi experienced an exceptionally wet May, receiving 6.09 inches of precipitation—2.01 inches above the 1991–2020 average—and ranking in the wettest third of the 36-year record. This contributed to a historic spring (March–May) total of 34.42 inches—18.48 inches above average (215.9% of average)—and the wettest spring on record for the island chain.
Drought
According to the June 2 U.S. Drought Monitor report, about 58.4% of the CONUS was in drought, a decrease of about 3.3% from the end of April. Drought persisted over much of the western interior, Rockies and Plains, and expanded or intensified in parts of the Northwest, Southwest, northern Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, while improving over portions of the southern and central Plains. Parts of the South, Southeast and Northeast saw substantial drought contraction or improvement, though drought remained widespread across the southeast Atlantic coastal region.
Monthly Outlook
Above-average June temperatures are favored across the western and northern U.S., with the highest probabilities over parts of the Northwest and the northern Rockies and Plains. Above-average temperatures are also favored across the Florida Peninsula and portions of eastern Alaska, while below-average temperatures are favored for the Alaska Peninsula. Below-average precipitation is favored across the Northwest and Great Lakes region, while above-average precipitation is favored for parts of the Southwest and Southeast. Visit the Climate Prediction Center’s Official 30-Day Forecasts for more details.
Drought is expected to persist and expand across much of the Northwest and portions of the Southwest and northern Rockies and Plains, with development likely in parts of the Midwest. Although drought is expected to persist from portions of the southern Plains to the lower Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic, some improvement is anticipated across parts of the central and southern Plains, as well as much of the Southeast. Visit the U.S. Monthly Drought Outlook website for more details.
Significant wildland fire potential for June is above normal across portions of the West, as well as parts of the northern Plains and Upper Midwest. For additional information on wildland fire potential, visit the National Interagency Fire Center’s One-Month Wildland Fire Outlook.
For more detailed climate information, check out our comprehensive May 2026 U.S. Climate Report scheduled for release on June 11, 2026. For additional information on the statistics provided here, visit the Climate at a Glance and National Maps webpages.
Here are some “ETs” recorded from around the U.S. the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is More Climate News from Tuesday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)