So far, this is the coldest May I have ever experienced, but the temperature swings have also been the wildest in my memory. I'm in Minnesota and the last snowfall I recall in May was on the 6th in 1991. One month might not make a whole lot of difference in the greater scheme of things here, though...as I recall the early 1990s weather seemed to start getting weirder here and after a few years of it that was what prompted me to start looking into it, which lead to my interest in climate change. I think it was 1993 that was the coldest summer in my memory around here and I go back to 1959 in the area. Doesn't necessarily mean anything, I'm just observing that if the trend in May of this year continues for the entire season it will probably beat 1993 (or thereabouts) overall, but it's this rollercoaster weather that is the news to me-it was in the high 30s and low 40s over the weekend and on Wednesday they're predicting as high as 90 degrees here. We had one snowfall just the other day that beat the cumulative record since 1880, with something like 12 inches falling in one 24 hour period versus a total accumulation 1880-1912 of 4.3 inches.

It's crazy like that all over the state and seems like it has been getting worse for the last 20 years-one year my property flooded ten times, before or since maybe once a year. But it was also weird otherwise, since I would get plenty of rain and we'd have bumper crops (I live on a farm but don't farm the land myself) while just a mile or so away the flooding would be so bad the crops were wiped out; other years (like last year) it was so dry that just one county away yields would be like...three bushels an acre of corn on one farm that I heard about vs. 200+ on mine despite the drought. Right around here and in the last 25 years, the hardiness zones have changed due to the increasing warmth and longer growing seasons. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I don't think anyone knows with certainty what is going on, although there are those who will tell you they do. Climate Science has been the most reliable source of information from my point of view, although one season or even several of extreme weather events doesn't prove that our actitivites are influencing weather or climate...but nobody is giving a better explanation, and you can't explain away this weather as a liberal conspiracy, which some people want to do.

Seems to me that the best thing to do is plan for these trends to continue for some time to come and if the weather continues to get stranger, adapt to it. I know when I replace shingles and build nowadays, I put heavier duty stuff into the construction...it would be stupid not to at this point, regardless of whether the ice caps melt and so on. If other people want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend this is normal, that's fine with me...if it is normal, it is the new normal, at least in my lifetime around here.

I used to be a truck driver and back in 2007, drove through a freak Ice/Snowstorm in Waco TX, in may. It was the strangest looking sight I ever say. Trees in full bloom, full green with snow on the ground (at least 3 inches). Also in southwest MO, Ozarks (I live in St Louis area), when coming home, entire forests were destroyed because of that freak ice storm. It looked like a nuclear bomb hit the area the way the trees were, both bare, knocked over, or just tall stumps without branches.

May is not even 1/2 way over yet !! You watch; it'll be in the 90's the next couple of weeks before Memorial Day, & you'll be sweating those "buckets"- you were telling Us about !!! :)

The high temperature at my house today was 98, which is about 20 degrees warmer than normal for May. I never remember it being this warm in May. Weather varies from year-to-year, and place-to-place.

Same in Missouri too I usually have my heater off by the middle of March or end

of it at the latest . Nature is making up for the heat from the past 2 years .

Im hoping for a mild July High 70s low 80s instead of the 100s .

And the Warmers Alarmist called March the warmest it was in the 30s and 40s here . They are mixed up .

sophisticated point. do a search at the search engines. this can assist!

We have had a cold spring here in the US but it is in the 90s here in LA. Yesterday was a record and today may be as well. It is probably just weather.

Central Alabama is not the world. Use your brain, if you can

Suppose one explanation would be Global Warming.

(remember GW also means more extreme weather - some places will get much colder while others, as we have already been witnessing, will experience desertification)

It sure has been a while. Where is Al Gore's global warming, when you really need it. I live in Kentucky and even in the middle part of May we are still getting freeze warnings.

Ok, I live in central Alabama. I am 47 years old and have lived here for most of my life. Without a doubt May of this year, 2013, is the coldest in my memory here ever. Usually by May in Alabama we are already sweating buckets. This year in May I have ran the heat most nights.

Am I the only one feeling this way? Does anyone else agree ? What is going on ?

Weather is unpredictable, but saying that we could be in for a lot more cold winters/springs.

It depends on what you believe drives our climate if it is CO2 it's going to get warmer.

If you believe it is our sun, it is going to get colder as our sun is entering a minimum phase.

Yep, it's been very cool for this time of year but I like it.

Alaska is having the coldest May since record keeping began 109 years ago and this is according to National Weather Service: http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-ne...

-----------------------

Yeah, it's definitely been colder this year. Must be that Global Warming that Algore promised us.

Yeah, it's piss poor weather in England as well.