Oklahoma's transition from wet and stormy to the summer doldrums, normally seen sometime around mid-June, seemed to occur about a month early. The first half of May provided a couple of month's worth of rainfall in some parts of the state. The weather calmed considerably during the latter half, however, with only a brief interruption by a summer-like storm system. Severe weather was widespread and frequent through the 16th. Abundant reports of large hail and wind gusts greater than 70 mph were accompanied by extensive flooding. Only five confirmed tornadoes touched down during May, one of those being a significant EF2 twister that struck Anadarko. That tornado and the associated rear-flank downdraft winds caused widespread damage in that city. The month as a whole was close to normal with a statewide average of nearly 5 inches of rainfall to rank as the 52nd wettest on record. That statistic is deceiving, however, as most of the northwestern half of the state was below normal. The east's robust rainfall totals between 10-20 inches buoyed the monthly total. The statewide average temperature was a different story, however, falling below normal by more than two degrees to rank as the 19th coolest May since 1895. That propelled the spring season to finish as the 58th coolest on record with slightly below normal temperatures. The January-May period remained well above normal and ranked as the 35th warmest such period on record. The spring season was also the 29th wettest on record while the January-May period was slightly below normal but still ranked as the 45th wettest.

Full monthly summary available online at:
http://climate.mesonet.org/monthly_summary.html