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Missouri on pace for one of the wettest Mays

There are no dry spots in Missouri as the state is on pace to have one of the wettest months of May on record. Pat Guinan, a University of Missouri Extension climatologist, tells Brownfield Ag News, “It’s safe to say this will  definitely rank for the state as a whole in the top five wettest Mays on record and that’s out of 125 years.”

The wettest May in Missouri was in 1943. But, Guinan says it’s not just this month that’s a concern. Parts of southeast Missouri have been underwater since the first of the year – getting more than 35 inches of rain since January 1^st, “Highly unusual. That’s more than 15 inches above normal. Some very wet conditions statewide and a far cry from what we saw a year ago at this time where much of the state was going into a drought.”

Guinan told Brownfield on Friday that southwest Missouri is probably the bullseye for the most rainfall, “I saw a report over in Jasper County of 20 inches of rain which is just incredible. That’s nearly what you would anticipate for a half a year of average rainfall and they’ve experienced that much in just a few weeks.”

Guinan calls this a crazy spring, weatherwise in Missouri and so far, a crazy year.