News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Bryson Boyk climbs through the monkey bars while playing at the Kiwanis Kiddie Park in Alpena on Monday. The park should be busy today too, as tempertures are expected to be 80 degrees or warmer.

ALPENA — Outside of a handful of days in the middle and end of the month, May weather in Alpena was cooler than normal.

The month included 10 days where it was 70 degrees or warmer, with a high temperature of 84 degrees on May 16, but there were also 10 nights last month where temperatures dipped well into the 30s. The coldest temperature in Alpena in May was 29 degrees, which was recorded three times, on May 1, May 8, and May 9.

For the entire month, the average temperature was 52.4 degrees. Which was one degree colder than the 53.4 degrees long-term average.

The average high temperature was only 62.8 degrees, which was well below the long-term average of 65.8 degrees.

There were no records broken in May and no weather warnings for severe storms.

Eleanor Dhuyvetter, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said overall, May was kind of dark and dreary and the sun was out little. She said that caused temperatures to fluctuate significantly.

“We had a lot of clouds that kept the sun drowned out and kept the threat of rain showers around,” she said. “Also, we had a significant amount of wind from the north, which sometimes pushed temperatures lower than normal.”

Overall, precipitation was on par with the long-term average. In May, Alpena received only 2.14 inches of precipitation, which was only a touch below the established norm of 2.78.

Today, Dhuyvetter said, it will be hot in Alpena. She said along the Lake Huron shoreline in Alpena, the mercury could peak in the low 80s and it could be a little warmer inland and temperatures could climb into the mid-80s.

She said then, beginning tonight and well into Wednesday, a cold front will move through the area and bring rain with it. Beginning Thursday, however, Dhuyvetter said the sun and warmer temperatures begin to return.

We will see a warming trend and the sun is going to be turning and sticking around for a while,” Dhuyvetter said.

Hopefully the warmup will allow local farmers and gardeners to exhale some. Many people have planted their crops and a late-May frost advisory warned of the potential to damage freshly planted plants and seeds.

Looking ahead, the average temperature for June is 59 degrees, while the average high temperature is 71.8 degrees.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or sschulwitz@TheAlpenaNews.com. Follow him on X @ss_alpenanews.com.