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Last May Was the Warmest on Record for Roanoke

@NOAA Twitter Page

Last month was one of the warmest Mays ever, with a few locations across Virginia seeing record average temperatures.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, last month was the 4th warmest May ever across the globe.

Steve Keighton with the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg says that warmth was felt locally:

“At least Roanoke in particular was the warmest May on record for the average overall temperature. Blacksburg was actually second and Lynchburg was third, but looking across the state and even into North Carolina there were a number of stations that were in the top three for warmest Mays in history.”

Now, normally when you think of breaking a monthly temperature record, you’d think temperatures during the day would be the culprit, but…

“When we talk about a warm month, we’re really averaging all the temperatures, so it’s a combination of high and low temperatures. What really stood out was the mild low temperatures – the overnight temperatures. And, that was probably because a lot of the moisture and cloud cover did not allow it to cool off as much as it normally does.”

Roanoke’s average temperature last month was 72.5 degrees. That smashed the previous record of 70.9 degrees set back in 1953.

Nick Gilmore is a meteorologist, news producer and reporter/anchor for RADIO IQ.