Schwindenhammer said he did not know where that ranks among past years.
National Weather Service Meteorologist James Brotherton said that according to temperatures tracked for the Tri-State area in Martinsburg, W.Va., May 2005 is on pace to be the coldest May since 1967.
Brotherton said the average temperature for May 2005, as of Wednesday, was 56.7 degrees. He said the normal average for the area is 63.3 degrees.
Brotherton said the cooler temperatures in the area have been the result of persistent low pressure systems that have stayed around the eastern United States.
Brotherton said that trend may not be in the area for much longer. The weather service's long-range outlook for the next month is showing near normal temperatures. He said the summer outlook predicts temperatures that are normal or slightly above normal.
According to Keefer's Web site, i4weather.net, the average low temperature for May, through Tuesday, is just shy of nearly 44 degrees. That is lower than any other May in a decade, the site states.
The average high temperature through Tuesday, 68.3 degrees, is lower than all but one May between 1996 and 2004. In that year, 2003, the 67.5 degree average high temperature was coupled with an average low (51.1 degrees) that is significantly higher than that of this year, according to the site.
Brotherton said the cold streak is not reason for alarm.
"It's just the weather," he said.
