May rainfall was almost 3 inches below normal

Following a winter that was record-breaking in its snowfall levels, May was a month that was nearly record-breaking for its near lack of precipitation of any kind, according to weather expert Russ Hobby.

An average May for Laconia, Hobby's records show, gets 3.5-inches of precipitation. This year's May got only 0.73 inches, or 2.77 inches below normal.

That puts May of 2008 as the fourth driest May on Hobby's records, which for this measurement go back to 1867. The driest May was 0.47-inches in 1911, the second driest was 0.55-inches in 1997, and the third driest was 0.62-inches in 1903.

Much of the month's rain fell on the 3rd (0.1-inches) and the 4th (0.23-inches). There were 12 other days that saw precipitation, but ten of those days saw an amount less than 0.05-inches.

May was by far the driest month of the year, much drier than second place January, which had 2.74-inches of water-equivalent precipitation.

Such a dry month created dangerous forest fire conditions, and the "forest doesn't green up as fast," said Hobby. The arid ground seems to delay the onset of spring, as the seeds that dropped to the ground wait for moisture before they sprout.

There are some benefits of a dry May, however. For one thing, "black fly season was very short this year," said Hobby, with the exception of the north part of the state.

Temperatures were about as they'd be expected for May, with the monthly average coming in at 0.9-degrees cooler than normal.

The temperatures may have been about average, but they were anything but predictable. Some days, like May 3, saw the temperature change only slightly, with a low of 42-degrees and a high of 45. On other days, like May 26, the low was 45 and the high was 85. That was the warmest day of the month; the coldest was May 1, when saw the temperature dropped to 27-degrees.