The Quiet Month of May

It's like mother nature saw the calendar change to May and said, "I'm shutting it down."  The Medford tornado was the night of April 30 and, while storms continued into the early hours of May 1, since then, the weather has been quiet.  By quiet, I mean the lack of severe weather.  Sure, we've had rain and even a couple of strikes of lightning, but not the weather Oklahomans typically associate with May. 

In 2011, we carried a similar mindset through the month until the atmosphere came together for May 24.  One big event before the summer that will live in everyone's minds for a long time.  Does that mean we can expect the same thing this year?  Of course not.  In fact, looking at some long term data this morning, I don't see anything that would suggest another May 24 event.  Granted, that statement comes with a LOT of ifs, ands, and buts.  Long term data changes every day.  Maybe the jet stream will break out of its current summertime thinking and bring severe weather to Oklahoma before we say goodbye to May.  Then again, maybe it won't. 

There have already been 2 tornadoes officially reported in Oklahoma in May, that first day when the same system that powered through Medford moved into northeastern Oklahoma after midnight on May 1st.  The ONLY month of May where ZERO tornadoes were reported in Oklahoma?  May 2005.  Other than that, there have been at least two tornadoes in every month of May in Oklahoma since official records began in 1950.  1988 only saw 2, and 1958/1967/2006/2009 all only saw 4.  So it's not out of the question we can skate through the rest of May without tornadoes.  But will we?  We're watching every day to see if that's the case.