May was cool-ish and dry-ish in the Junction City area. But it was also quite moderate and avoided extremes of all kinds, at least for rainfall and temperatures.
The average daily high for May was 73.4, 1.8 degrees below normal. Average overnight low was 53.1, 1 degree below normal. This gave us a monthly mean temperature of 63.2, 1.5 degrees below normal. The highest temperature for the month was 88 degrees on May 15th. The coldest temperature for the month was 45 degrees on the morning of May 4th. There were no temperature records set or tied during the month of May. The hottest May on record was in 1962 with a monthly mean temperature of 74.3. The coldest May was in 1995 with a monthly mean temperature of 57.8 degrees. While three of the first five months of 2025 have had below average temperatures, March and April were far enough above average that the year to date has been average.
While it may have seemed like it was always raining during the month, many of those rains were just enough to make things damp but not enough to provide significant moisture. While rainfall was recorded on 13 days during May, the total monthly rainfall was only 3.25 inches, well below the 30-year average of 5.14 inches. May is normally our wettest month of the year with June running just slightly less. Three of the five months of 2025 have recorded below average precipitation so year to date precipitation is also below average. Average precipitation for January through May is 12.12 inches. For 2025 we are at 10.33 inches for that same period. The driest May was in 2009 when we received 0.86 inches of rain. That was the only month of May, since 1931, that less than one inch of rain was recorded in Junction City. The wettest May is also the wettest month of all times for the Geary County area. May 1995 deluged us with 17.23 inches of rain.
June brings us the start of meteorological summer (June 1), and astronomical summer (June 20). As the daylight grows longer the temperatures respond by going up! Average daily highs for June begin the month around 81 and by the 30th are up to 89. Overnight lows warm from 60 on the first to 68 by the end of the month. Average rainfall drops off slightly from May to June with an average precipitation for the month of 4.84 inches.
Chuck Otte [email protected]