
© AP
May 2019 was the United States' second-wettest month of all time after numerous heavy rain events soaked the nation, according to a just-released government report. The first five months of the year ranked as the wettest such period on record.
The national climate report from
NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) said the country's average May precipitation total was 4.41 inches, 1.50 inches above the 20th-century average (1901-2000) and only 0.03 inches shy of the nation's all-time wettest month of May 2015 (4.44 inches) in records dating to January 1895.
Record or near-record precipitation was observed in May from the West Coast to the central Plains, Great Lakes and parts of the northern mid-Atlantic region.
Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri all experienced their wettest May on record, NOAA said. Seven additional states - Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah - ranked among their five wettest Mays.
Comment: The record wet weather in the United States continues as parts of the Gulf Coast were inundated with a month's worth of rain in just 24 hours.
See also: The wettest and wildest planting season American farmers can remember