After months of drought May finally delivers spring showers

For those of you not sure what that wet stuff was that fell in the month of May, you are forgiven.
Following the previous 10 months of below normal precipitation, the emergence of an abundance of rain — yes, rain — was a strange but welcome sight to behold. 
Nearly 4 1/2 inches of rain fell in May benefiting dry crops and gardens, turning lawns into lush, green carpets, producing the frequent sounds of lawn mowers attempting to keep up with the growing grass, filling aquifers and generally putting happy smiles on the faces of most. 
Apart from the June 2014 floods, one has to go back nearly two years to June 2013 to find this much rainfall in a one-month period.  Not only was the amount beneficial, but the way in which the rain fell was beneficial. 
Numerous periods of showers fell in May, allowing for the moisture to soak into the soil rather than producing widespread areas of runoff.
May temperatures were well below normal — particularly daily highs, which averaged more than 5 degrees below normal.  This is likely due to the frequent showers/thunderstorms producing cloudy conditions and keeping temperatures cooler than normal.  Overnight lows were more temperate with average lows staying near normal.
The frequency of thunderstorms in May and nature's own fireworks display of lightning and thunder prompted some serious questions from my two young boys, and the answers are good information for all ages to stay safe this summer. 
This information is taken from a National Weather Service brochure on “Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, and Lightning,” and in my opinion there are two main takeaways from this article for everyone to stay safe this summer:
•If you are outdoors and can hear thunder, you are in danger of being struck by lightning. Go indoors immediately. The vast majority of lightning victims were going to a safe place, but waited too long to seek shelter.
•There is NO safe place OUTDOORS when a thunderstorm is nearby.
 
A blog of daily summary and other interesting weather events for the Luverne area is at http://luvernemnweather.blogspot.com. Thone can be reached at tathone@gmail.com.