News Photo by Crystal Nelson Colton Allen, a 2-year-old Alpena resident, plays on the snail Monday at Bay View Park. He was visiting the park with his mother, Heidi.

ALPENA — Two record-low temperatures were set during the otherwise near-normal month of May in Alpena.

Cold air from the arctic passing over the Great Lakes region in mid-May caused the temperature to drop to a record low of 22 degrees the night of May 12 and a record low of 20 degrees on May 13.

Meteorologist Tim Locker, of the National Weather Service in Gaylord, said those temperatures were lower than the previous 23-degree record low set on May 12, 1934, and the 22-degree record set on May 13, 1946.

Otherwise, the monthly average temperature was 51.1 degrees, 1.4 degrees below normal. The monthly low of 20 degrees was recorded on May 13 and the monthly high of 90 degrees on May 27.

A total of 2.35 inches of precipitation fell during the month, about 0.32 inches below normal.

Meteorologists expect the weather to continue to warm up in June.

Locker said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center is forecasting a better chance for above-normal temperatures. There are also equal chances of precipitation.

“They’re not forecasting (precipitation) to be below or above, they’re just saying that there’s equal chances we could end up a little below or a little above,” he said.

Locker said the weather for the remainder of the week is expected to be near to above-normal temperatures.

He said rain showers and thunderstorms are likely today, but will be hit-and-miss.

Crystal Nelson can be reached at 989-358-5687 or cnelson@thealpenanews.com.