ITHACA, N.Y. -- The month of May was rocked by days of thunder, driving rains and above-average temperatures throughout the central New York region and beyond.

Syracuse was saturated with a record-breaking 7.86 inches of rain and the Ithaca area was swamped with its eighth wettest May since 1879, according to Keith Eggleston, senior climatologist with Cornell University's Northeast Regional Climate Center. It was the fifth warmest May in Ithaca since 1872, with temperatures at 5.4 degrees above normal. Temperatures were 2.8 degrees above normal across New York, making it the 13th warmest May in the Empire State since 1894, Eggleston said.

Abnormally high numbers of thunderstorms also occurred throughout the central New York region in May. The Ithaca and Binghamton areas were rattled with at least a dozen thunderstorms, double the normal number even for a summer month and triple the number for an average May in those areas, Eggleston said. Syracuse reported 10 thunderstorms; Rochester and Buffalo each reported nine thunderstorms for the month, also more than double the average number.

Thunderstorm records are based on days in which thunder is heard, not on the number of actual storms, Eggleston said. If two thunderstorms occur in one day, that would count as a single day of thunder. Six reports of thunder during a summer month are considered normal; two to three thunderstorms is the average for the month of May.

The stormy onslaughts originated in the Midwest and were propelled by a stagnant high-pressure system in the Southeastern United States, Eggleston said. That high-pressure system has since deteriorated, resulting in some calmer, drier days, he said.

That's a relief to soggy Ithacans who, between May 3 and May 28, witnessed just one rain-free day. Buffalo reported 5.72 inches of rain, Binghamton 5.29 inches and Rochester 4.53 inches.