Last month was quite pleasant in Berks County during the first half, even chilly at times, then along came a scorching four-day period, before a return to pleasant weather all the way to the end.<\/p>\n
The final statistics appear to show a fairly normal month in terms of temperatures, but that four-day period of the 17th through the 20th made all the difference, the high temperatures 89, 96, 97 and 94 degrees, respectively.<\/p>\n
The 97-degree 19th tied for hottest day in any May in the temperature database, now in its 129th year. The high and low temperatures that day also set records for warmth.<\/p>\n
The 96 on the 18th tied a date record and was tied for second hottest May date with two days in 1962. Next are five 95-degree dates, none of which is more recent than 1996.<\/p>\n
After the heat last month, it wasn\u2019t long before another record was tied, this one on the chilly side.<\/p>\n
According to Berks weather historian Jeffrey R. Stoudt: \u201cVery cool weather returned abruptly afterward during the 21st with temperatures nearly 40 degrees cooler than the 94 high of 24 hours earlier. The late-March-like chill climaxed on the 23rd with a high of 56, which tied 1982 and 2003 for the coolest high for the date.\u201d<\/p>\n
The retired meteorologist continued: \u201cThis strong cool spell was accompanied by periods of rain and drizzle, which kept diurnal ranges narrow. While the rain was sorely needed to mitigate prevailing severe drought, the timing was very inconvenient as it coincided with much of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The total for the 21st into the 25th of 1.30 inches officially at the Reading Regional Airport was nearly half of the monthly rainfall of 2.66 inches.<\/p>\n
The temperatures turned chilly as the month ended, including a 45-degree low on the 31st, just 4 degrees above the date record.<\/p>\n
Over the month, 17 of 31 days were below normal by average temperature, though mostly the departures were small, with 12 below normal on the 23rd by far the biggest departure.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn contrast, six of the 13 warm days boasted double-digit departures above, including 22 above on the 19th,\u201d Stoudt added.<\/p>\n
In terms of rainfall, the monthly total of 2.66 inches was significantly below the monthly normal of 3.51.<\/p>\n
Every month this year has seen below-normal precipitation, but not greatly. The total deficit at the airport is 3 inches through five months, the precipitation for 2026 about four-fifths of normal.<\/p>\n
The deficit for Berks County as a whole is a little wider, according to the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center, a division of the National Weather Service.<\/p>\n
But the dry times have continued for most of the past year, with the deficit of about 5 inches over the past year, or nearly 15%, according to the center.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Stoudt notes that the statistical or meteorological spring of March through May averaged significantly warmer than average at 56.2 degrees, which approximately tied spring 1921 for third warmest. The 2026 showing was fueled by top-10-warmest finishes by March and April.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf computing to a second decimal place, 1921 would win that tiebreaker at 56.22 versus 56.18 of 2026,\u201d he said. \u201cSprings 2024 and 2025 at 56.1 and 55.6, respectively, stand only slightly behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe top two, 2012 and 2010, averaged 57.2 and 56.4 degrees, respectively. The majority of warmest springs, including those mentioned, have been keyed by quick exits from wintry temperatures, which usually linger numerous days during March into early April.\u201d<\/p>\n
May weather in Berks<\/p>\n
\u2022 Temperature: 63.5 degrees<\/p>\n
\u2022 Normal: 62.5 degrees<\/p>\n
\u2022 Precipitation: 2.66 inches<\/p>\n
\u2022 Normal: 3.51 inches<\/p>\n
More data:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Warmest high: 96 on the 18th (tie, 1962); 97 on the 19th (96, 1962) and hottest May day (tie, May 20, 1996)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Warmest low: 72 degrees on the 19th (68, 1962)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Coldest high: 56 on the 23rd (tie, 1982 and 2003)<\/p>\n
\u2022 90-degree days: 3 (annual total: 4)<\/p>\n
Source: National Weather Service<\/p>\n
Rainfall amounts from the Berks Area Rainfall Networks in inches:<\/p>\n
\u2022 New Morgan, 3.65<\/p>\n
\u2022 Elverson NE, 3.64<\/p>\n
\u2022 Auburn, 3.43<\/p>\n
\u2022 Birdsboro, 3.4<\/p>\n
\u2022 Pine Grove, 3.37<\/p>\n
\u2022 Morgantown, 3.32<\/p>\n
\u2022 Bernville, 3.18<\/p>\n
\u2022 Quaker Hill, 3.12<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wernersville, 3.08<\/p>\n
\u2022 Shartlesville, 3<\/p>\n
\u2022 Knauers, 2.98<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cacoosing, 2.86<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mohrsville SW, 2.84<\/p>\n
\u2022 Henningsville, 2.83<\/p>\n
\u2022 Strausstown, 2.77<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mohnton, 2.76<\/p>\n
\u2022 Mohrsville, 2.74<\/p>\n
\u2022 Womelsdorf, 2.74<\/p>\n
\u2022 Hamburg, 2.7<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lobachsville, 2.68<\/p>\n
\u2022 Muhlenberg Park, 2.64<\/p>\n
\u2022 Shillington, 2.64<\/p>\n
\u2022 Topton, 2.62<\/p>\n
\u2022 Dryville, 2.57<\/p>\n
\u2022 Cornwall Terrace, 2.5<\/p>\n
\u2022 Lincoln Park, 2.49<\/p>\n
\u2022 Reading E, 2.49<\/p>\n
\u2022 Oley, 2.47<\/p>\n
\u2022 Oley Furnace, 2.47<\/p>\n
\u2022 Boyers Junction, 2.45<\/p>\n
\u2022 West Reading, 2.26<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last month was quite pleasant in Berks County during the first half, even chilly at times, then along…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,128,130,129,706,1133],"class_list":["post-208372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg","tag-weather"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}