by Barney Leach
May 2021 checked out in its final hours on May 31 with 6.17 inches of rain bringing its total for the month to 12.92 inches. We had a total of 13 days with measurable rainfall for a near record wet May. Normal May rainfall for Fairfield / Freestone County is 5.46 inches.
Our total rainfall for the year stands at 23.95 inches. Normal through May is 20.71 inches. Our record wettest May was 15.38 inches in 2019. Year 2009 produced our driest May with only 0.49 inch of rain.
Temperature-wise, due to above normal days with rainfall and cloud coverage, May was just slightly warmer than April with a high temperature of 88 degrees on May 3 compared to April’s high of 86 degrees. Average daily high temperature for May was 79 degrees for April. The low temperature for May was 55 degrees on May 5.
Looking ahead to June: June ushers in summer with temperatures reaching the upper 90’s. We have had triple-digit temperatures in June in the past which resulted in a record number of triple-digit temperature days for those years.
Our normal rainfall for June is 4.02 inches. Our record wettest June was 13.26 inches in 2004. The record driest June was 0.23 inch in 2008.
Normal rainfall values given were derived from averages over the twenty-year period 2001 through 2020. Record values given are for the twenty-seven year period 1994 through 2020.
The above rainfall and temperature data was recorded by Barney Leach, former co-op weather volunteer for the National Weather Service and former weather volunteer for channel 8 in Dallas, channel 10 in Waco and radio station KNES in Fairfield.
