When the rain began falling late Wednesday night, it ended a 15-day streak with no measurable precipitation in Trenton.
National weather service precipitation records in rural areas generally have a 24-hour counting period ending at 7 am, therefore, precipitation falling after 7 am on the final day of the month is counted on the first day of the next month.
In the 24-hour period ending at 7 am Thursday morning (June 1st), 1.43 inches was measured at the water plant in western Trenton where official measurements are taken for the National Weather Service. There were 1.37 inches recorded at the KTTN studios in downtown Trenton, and 1.65 at the residence of the Grundy County Emergency Management Director, Glen Briggs, on East 5th Street in Trenton. The University of Missouri weather station at the southeast edge of Trenton recorded 2.6 inches of rain. That weather station is located at North Central Missouri College’s Barton Farm Campus. A resident in Trenton’s east city limits on 10th Street reported three inches of rain.
Since the rainfall goes onto the June 1st records, the month of May officially received 1.12 inches of rain in Trenton. That’s the second driest May in KTTN’s records dating back to 1970. The driest was 38 hundredths of an inch of rain in 1992. University of Missouri weather records for Trenton’s monthly measurements for May are less than what Trenton received this year. That makes May 2023 the second driest month in Trenton since 1918.
Trenton has received less than two inches of rain in May just five times since 1970 and just eight times since 1918 when including KTTN and University of Missouri weather records for Trenton.
Normal precipitation in Trenton during May is 5.46 inches.
Trenton had a yearly moisture deficit of slightly over four and one-half inches (4.55) before the rain on Wednesday night and early Thursday morning. That rainfall reduced the yearly precipitation deficit to slightly over three and one-quarter inches.
High temperatures in Trenton during May averaged 78.2 degrees with low temperatures averaging 54.7 degrees. Those readings were three-point-six degrees (3.6) above normal for highs and one degree above normal for low temperatures.
The warmest day during May in Trenton was 90 degrees on May 7th. The coolest temperatures were 40 degrees on both May 3rd and 4th.
The outlook for June calls for above-normal temperatures and there are equal chances for above, below, or near-normal precipitation during June in our area, however, extreme northeast Missouri is slightly favored to have below-normal precipitation in June.
