Jackson Hole, WY was looking at a dry spring with well below normal precipitation in both March and April 2021. Early May brought some rain and snow, but it was really the 8-day period between May 18th and 26th that saved the day. May ended up well above normal in the precipitation department and brought the spring’s total precip back up close to normal.
Town Precipitation
Total Precipitation for the Spring Season, March, April and May 2021 was 3.84 inches. Normal total precipitation for these three months is 4.17 inches. Therefore, this spring only fell short by about a third of an inch (0.33 inches).
For the year so far, 2021 is very close to normal for total precipitation in town. January through May 2021 total stands at 6.49 inches. That is just 0.32 inches short of the historic average precipitation for the first five months of the year of 6.81 inches.
Town Temps
Every month this spring was colder than normal. Average monthly highs each month were one or two degrees colder than the long-term historic averages.
March and April 2021 saw monthly average low temperatures two to four degrees colder than normal, with the exception of May’s average low temperature, which ended up one degree above average. (Technically it was less than a half a degree warmer, 31.6 degrees, rounded up to 32. The historic average low temp in May is 32-degrees).
One other note, on May 9th, 2021 Jackson set a new low temperature record, with a morning low of 12-degrees. The old record for that date was 13-degrees, set back in 2002.
The table below outlines all the weather stats this spring from the Jackson, WY Climate Station.
Jim is the chief meteorologist at mountainweather.com and has been forecasting the weather in Jackson Hole and the Teton Range for the last 30 years.