Today in New York Weather History: May 21

 

1924 (Wednesday)

On a showery day, the high/low was only 50°/47°.  The high was 20 degrees below average.

 

1971 (Friday)

Although just 0.03" of rain fell (between 3-4 PM), it was the first measurable rainfall on this date in 17 years.  The day was gray and cool with a high of only 60°.

 

1985 (Tuesday)

Heavy rain fell between 5-11 PM, amounting to 1.60".  During one 15-minute period (between 6:55-7:10 PM), 0.48" of rain poured down.

 

1996 (Tuesday)

This was the second day in a row with a record high as the mercury topped out at 93°.  The next 90-degree day wouldn't be for another two months (and it would be the only other 90-degree day of the summer.) 

 

 

2002 (Tuesday)

This was the last of four consecutive days with morning lows in the chilly low 40s, well below the average of 55°.

 

2012 (Monday)

After four days in a row of sunny and mild weather, today was a gray, rainy Monday.  1.40" of rain fell, with a particularly heavy downpour occurring during AM rush hour, with 0.57" measured between 9-10:00.

 

2013 (Tuesday)

Today was just the second 80-degree day of the year, coming six weeks after the first (4/9).  This was the greatest number of days between the first and second 80-degree day in eight years, when there was a gap of 45 days.  (The longest gap in the years since 1900 was 58 days in 1928).  Today's high of 86° was the warmest reading since the first week of September 2012.

 

 

2022 (Saturday)

At long last the temperature reached the 80s for the first time this year, the latest date for this occurrence since 1988.  This is the tenth latest date on record.  And with a high of 90°, this was just the fourth year to have the first 80 and first 90 occur on the same date (joining 1918, 1927 and 2010).  This was the first reading in the 90s in May since 2018. 

Besides the heat, the air was oppressive, with afternoon dew points in the 68-70° range.  The morning low of 62° was the coolest on a day with a high in the 90s since 2010, when there was a low of low of 56° on 4/7 (the earliest date on record for a reading in the 90s).

 

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Comments

[William]

2013 was the first time since 1999, and just the thirteenth year overall, with no days in the eighties or nineties from April tenth to May twentieth.

[William]

2020 - only nine days so far this year either reached or exceeded 70° (excluding today), the fewest in a year by this date since 1966, when there were eight such days through May 21. ironically, the winters of both 1966 and this year were rather mild and not particularly snowy. only twenty other years have had less than ten 70° days through this date.

[Rob]

And the summer of 1966 would be the hottest on record until 2010 so it will be interesting to see how this summer plays out.

[Henry]

May 21, right at the height of spring, happens to be my birthday. Since I moved to New York in the spring of 2006, the weather on this date has been very pleasant in almost every year.

[William]

2022 - today’s high in the nineties broke a string of 244 days with a high colder than 80°. this was the fifth longest such streak ever and the longest such streak since 1996-1997, when there was one of 250 days. this joined 1918 (May 6), 1927 (April 20) and 2010 (April 7) as the only four times in which a year’s first 80° day happened on the same day as a year’s first 90° day.

[William]

interestingly, despite 2022’s extremely late first 80° day, just two months later, every single day in July 2022 would have a high of 80° or warmer. talk about making up for lost time.