Community Corner

Numbers: A Wet Spring in Kent for 2011

Summer may finally be here, both technically and temperature-wise

With May officially in the record books, and the climatological spring having ended Tuesday, numbers show what we were all thinking — 2011 had one of the wettest springs on record.

"Spring 2011 was wetter than average, as everyone knows," said Tom Schmidlin, a meteorologist in the Department of Geography. "Total rainfall and melted snow was 17.26 inches, 5.8 inches above average."

Schmidlin has been recording precipitation levels from a weather station at his Brady Lake property for more than 25 years. April alone was the fourth-wettest for Kent, according to his measurements.

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"All three months were wetter than average with 4.42 inches in March, 6.08 inches in April and 6.76 inches in May," he said.

All that extra rain has affected Ohio's farmers the most, who have been forced to delay planting their corn crop, the Akron Beacon Journal reported Friday. And the same goes for Portage County's farmers, as the Record-Courier reported.

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Just as quickly, rain turned to summer heat.

The high temperature in Kent on Memorial Day was 91 degrees — the hottest Memorial Day in at least 25 years in Kent, exceeding the previous hottest, 89, set in 2006, Schmidlin said. The average high on Memorial Day is 75 degrees.

It was even hotter on Tuesday May 31 with a high of 92 degrees at 4:06 p.m. Tuesday was the hottest May day in Kent in at least 25 years. The previous record, prior to Monday, was 90 degrees in May 1996 and 1991.

After Saturday's forecast high of 86 degrees, we can look forward to returning cooler temperatures in Kent starting Sunday with a high of 76 and sunny skies and a high of 79 with sunshine on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.

As for more rain, there's a chance of thunderstorms Saturday night, but rain doesn't return to the forecast until after Tuesday.


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