NATIONAL WEATHER SUMMARY:
In the eastern half of the country, a cold front moved off the coast of the Carolinas and down across central Florida today. Heavy rain and thunderstorms fell across most of the Florida Peninsula
through the day with over 2 inches of rain in some areas. Rain
persisted into the night time hours and was expected to continue
over the next few days. In the wake of front, temperatures were
quite cool with record lows being set in several locations from the
Great Lakes to the Ohio Valley, including: Gaylord, MI (27); Erie,
PA (30); Pittsburgh, PA (33); Cleveland, OH (34) and Morgantown, WV
(34) to name a few. Record lows were also set in areas of Texas,
Arkansas and South Carolina. It was much warmer over the northern
Plains and Upper Midwest with highs reaching the 80s and lower 90s
from western Kansas to southern Minnesota.
Over the western portion of the country, it was another very warm day throughout as a ridge of high pressure remained in place. Record highs were tied or broken in 7 different states from Montana to California. Phoenix, Arizona climbed to 106 for a high which
tied a record for May at 13 for consecutive days at or above 100
degrees. Scattered showers and thunderstorms developed across the
mountain areas from the four corners to portions of Nevada and
southern California which provided some relief from the heat. A few
storms became briefly severe with strong wind gusts over interior
southern California. A cold front was bringing rain to western
Washington and northwest Oregon by the end of the day with a few
storms out ahead across northern Idaho.

WEATHER EXTREMES FOR YESTERDAY:
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F)...........118 Death Valley, CA
HIGHEST HEAT INDEX (DEGREES F)............118 Death Valley, CA
LOWEST TEMPERATURE (DEGREES F).............18 Spincich Lake, MI
LOWEST WIND CHILL (DEGREES F)..............18 Spincich Lake, MI
HIGHEST WIND GUST (MPH)....................56 China Lake, CA
HIGHEST PRECIPITATION (INCHES)...........4.53 Longwood, FL

ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY:
In 1962, a heat wave over the eastern US brought record highs to many areas. New York City (99), Baltimore (98) and Philadelphia (96) all set new record highs for the month of May.
In 1975, severe thunderstorms moved across the Twin Cities in MN with hail and wind gusts to 110 mph between Fridley and Hugo. 50 mobile homes were destroyed with other damage to several aircraft and to part of an elementary school.
In 1990, a devastating flood for Hot Springs, AR as 13 inches of rain fell in just 9 hours. The downtown area along Central Avenue was under 4-6 feet of water and several houses and cabins were washed away and swept over the top of a downstream dam.
DTN-Meteorlogix: J Sullivan