A daily record for precipitation highlighted a "bit of a tough month," said Environment Canada meteorologist Jim Steele in a weather synopsis for May.
A new record for May 12 was set when it rained 10.4 millimetres and snowed a further 2 centimetres for a total of 12.4 mm of precipitation, breaking the old record of 10.9 mm set in 1950.
It was part of an extended period of rain that saw 17 mm of rainfall on May 11 and 7.6 mm on May 10 for a total of 37 mm over three days.
The month "started off on the cool side," said Steele, thanks to a "very active weather pattern."
"A series of storms from the Gulf of Alaska brought significant amounts of precipitation during the first two weeks," said Steele.
Conditions dried out considerably for the last two weeks, "however temperatures still struggled to climb above seasonal values."
The warmest day was May 21 with a high of 22 C, "not really anything to brag about," Steele said.
In the end, the average temperature came in at 9.3 C just over half a degree below seasonal normal with the heaviest influence being the cooler than normal daytime highs, which averaged 15.4, compared to the normal of 16.5. The average daily low was right on the normal of 3.2.
Precipitation was on the high side at 70 mm, compared to the normal of 50.9 but well short of the record for the month of 105.7 mm reached in 1960.
"Areas to the south, namely Quesnel and Williams Lake, did not fair as well with record amounts of precipitation for the month." Steele noted.
