TEMPERATURE records have fallen in many parts of the state this month, but Warrnambool is yet to top its warmest May.
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While it has been an exceptionally-balmy month, we only have to look back to last year for even warmer conditions.
Warrnambool has failed to match the number of May days above 20 degrees recorded in many centres, with five so far, topping at 23.3 degrees.
This is the same number of above-20-degree days as the whole of last May, but this month’s top is well short of the 27.9 degrees recorded on May 9 last year.
That was the highest May temperature recorded since records began at the present airport weather station in 1998. The average maximum for last May was 17.5 degrees, the same as the average maximum so far this month.
With 11 days to go — traditionally the coldest days — a record seems unlikely.
The highest May average maximum was recorded in 2002 at 17.8 degrees, while 2007 saw an average top of 17.7 degrees.
Even though last May involved a record high for the month, it delivered the third lowest daily maximum of 11.2 degrees, a figure also recorded in May 2011.
The lowest May maximum recorded at the present weather station was 9 degrees on May 27, 2000.
The coldest May average maximum of 14.7 degrees is shared by 1999, 2006 and 2011.