Officially, May ended up being colder and, surprisingly, drier than normal in the Tuscarawas Valley area. The explanation for the officially low amount of precipitation is missing rain data on the 22nd and 23rd due to a sensor issue at the airport weather station in New Phila.
Here are the official climate numbers for May 2026…
The end of May also marks the end of meteorological spring. Compared to our 30-year average, spring was warmer and wetter than average across the Tuscarawas Valley area – the 3rd warmest spring on record. This is due to the well-above temperatures we saw in March and April, no doubt.
Spring was not only warm but wet as well. Good enough to go in the books as the 8th wettest spring on record here with a total of 12.78 inches of rain for the season.
SUMMER 2026 OUTLOOK
Before we get too deep into this, we should have some kind of base to start with. When we discuss weather, the base we use to compare is our climate averages. Most people don’t have much of a clue when it comes to what our average temperature or precipitation is on any given day, week, month, or season.
That’s perfectly okay. We all have a lot going on in our lives. Besides, this gives me a way to show off my weather superpowers. Here are some of the monthly climate averages for New Philadelphia over the last 30 years…
Using the figures above, our overall average temperature in New Phila during the summer is 71°.
We’ve had a lot of hot summers in the last several years, but this year is shaping up to be more of an average summer – at least with regards to our temperatures. The primary influence will be the strong El Niño developing in the Equatorial Pacific. Climate records show that temperatures during past summers with strong El Niños (1982, 1997, 2015) have all produced milder temperatures. (Winters in years with strong El Niño were also warmer, but we’ll talk more about that later in the year.)
Since history shows that summers during El Niño years tend to be milder, I’ve leaned toward higher odds of near-average temperatures and precipitation for a typical summer, lower odds for both warmer and colder than average.
Of course, not every day will follow this trend. We’ll still see some hot weather as well as some cooler days. But the overall temperature and precipitation should run fairly close to the average summer season.
We typically have 12 – 14 days where temperatures reach 90° during the summer. (Last summer featured 14 such days.) We should also expect to see fewer of those this year as well.
Just for reference, I’ve compiled a short list of the warmest and coolest summers on record for our area. You can use this as a comparison. The list is limited to the last 30 summers.
To wrap things up, there will be warm days ahead, but in the end, I don’t think this will be either a very hot or very cool summer. Whatever the season brings, I sincerely hope you have a great summer. – Joe
Excellent compilation of information! Thank you Joe!