REVIEWING MAY 2007 WEATHER & PHENOLOGY

From the North Shores of Little Rock Lake

Jim Hovda, Rice MN  56367-0265   jhovda.rice@juno.com

CAPSULE OF LAST MAY:      Nearly identical to this year except the average high temp was three degrees cooler.

CAPSULE OF THIS MAY:      Lot's of low temps in the 30's.  Highs in the 60's & 70's with a few 80's.   Very little rain.  No 90's.  A very average May.

WEATHER:       The average low was 46.45 degrees.  The coldest day was the morning of the 1st when the temp dipped to a chilly 34.7 degrees.   Eight mornings saw temps in the 30's.  This was the warmest May in twelve years according to WWJO (AM).   The average high was 72.02 degrees.  The warmest day occurred on the 10th with a 88.3 degree reading.  There were only four days with readings in the 80's.  Eleven days with 70 degree readings. 

       In the precipitation department we are out of the snow season.  We ended the snow year with 39" of the white stuff.  Rain is still very hard to come by.  We should average just over 4" of rain for the month.  This month only 1.27" for a total amount of precipitation for the calender year at 9.02".   Although we received rain on eleven days, most of the rain never hit the forest floor.  Our trees are in desperate need of water.  The most rain fell on the 30th when we received .46".  Many areas to the north and south of us got a lot more rain.  All in all, a very mundane month weather wise.

WEATHER RECORDS:       The coldest day in any May in the St. Cloud area was a 18 degree reading in 1907 on the 3rd and in greater MN a reading of 4 degrees was recorded at Pine River Dam.  On the warm side, a reading of 105 degrees was recorded in St. Cloud on the 31st in 1934 while in out-state a 112 degree reading was noted in Maple Plaine.  A difference of 108 degrees in one month.  Incredible! 

       Precipitation - - In 1912 our area received 9.68" for the month and the record one day dumping was 5" in 1894.  Yes, it does snow in May and the most snow in any may was in 1971 when we received 3.2".   No snow in June, July and August.

PHENOLOGY:       Spring has arrived in earnest.   The most notable happening was the solid return of the Purple Martin scouts on the 6th.   They left for a few days then returned on the 16th for good.   More and more arrived nearly filling the twenty four nesting spaces.    These wonderful birds have been absent for more than ten years.   A few were here late last year for a month or so but did not nest.    Their very vocal chirping is music to anyone fortunate enough to have these birds in the area.   They consume an enormous amount of insects.  Then they will leave in August heading back to South America where they make their winter homes.     As I sit here writing this article there are at least ten to fifteen flying and chirping around their two houses.   Other birds - -  On the 1st the Northern Orioles arrived looking for food, the 4th saw the Rose-breasted Grosbeaks arrive,  hummingbirds arrived on the 7th and in greater numbers on the 17th, on the 14th the Brown-headed Cowbird stopped in for free food (these birds are in much greater numbers than ever before) and on the 29th I observed the first Killdeer running on the grass by the Benton Phone Company offices.

       Critters - - Several visits by the raccoon who doing damage to a couple of feeders and forcing us to take in the grape jelly at night that we leave out for the orioles was not welcome.  Lots of mink tracks on the sand beach.

        Insects & plants - -  Grass growing found me making the first lawn mowing on the 3rd,  5th the ferns starting to sprout,  tulips blooming on the 7th,  8th saw the arrival of the first Cabbage White Butterfly,  9th a Clouded Sulphur butterfly,  the 11 saw all the apple trees in Rice in full bloom.   They have planted many of these trees and the fragrance and color is worth coming to Rice to observe.   The first Monarch butterfly finally arrived on the 24th along with a Tawny Crescent butterfly, the first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly arrived and I found a Cecropia moth on the side of the Rice Legion resting.  This moth is the largest moth in North America.  It can attain a wing span of over six inches.    We ended the month with a second full moon called a "blue moon."   The first full moon was on the 2nd.

RESIDENT OBSERVATIONS:       Our regular contributor, Dr. Ray Merritt observed his first wren on the 2nd and Bob Wainright observed the first baby geese by Benton Beach on the 2nd.

NATURE FACT:       A pair of Barn Swallows makes more than 1,200 trips carrying mud in their bills to build a nest and a male House Wren in Illinois brought food to his nestlings 1,217 times in a single day.  From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Home Study Course in Bird Biology. www.birds.cornell.edu./homestudy