Weather Trends International – Memorial Day 2009 Retail Weather Roundup

No weather excuses this year for retailers as the U.S. enjoys a near record warm Memorial Day holiday.  For the nation as a whole, the 5-days leading up to Memorial Day (Thursday 21st – Monday 25th) were the 2nd warmest in 17+ years, recall that Memorial Day last year was the #1 coldest in 17+ years.  The year-over-year change going from the worst Memorial Day weather last year to 2nd best this year certainly was a plus for overall retail store traffic and seasonal sales despite the tougher economic conditions. 

Record hot temperatures started early in the week in the Southwest with 107°F in Phoenix and 103°F in Las Vegas while the Great Lakes and interior Northeast had a late frost.  As the heat expanded East during the week it took an unusual northern track with mid-week temperatures soaring to 97°F in Minneapolis and 92°F late in the week for Boston.  With middle 80°s and very humid conditions in the Northeast over the weekend demand was high for must have hot weather categories like fans, lawn maintenance categories, summer apparel, sunscreen, pool supplies, cold beverages, popsicles and holiday food categories. 

In the Southeast the 5-days prior to the holiday were the wettest in 17+ years with flooding in Florida putting a damper on seasonal category demand unless it was personal bug repellents which are having a fantastic season with widespread infestations of mosquitoes, gnats and other stinging pests.  See the attached Regional Weather Round-up Chart.

As a result of the very hot holiday, May 2009 is on track to be the first month since October 2007 for all 4-weeks in the retail calendar month to trend both warmer than the prior year and above average for the nation as a whole.  This may create some upside surprise for retail same-store sales which are announced June 4th.  Last year retail industry same-store sales were below average at +2.9% according to the International Council of Shopping Center’s tally of major retailers, so the relatively easy comparison should help gains this year come in higher than expected for discounters, clubs, home centers and grocery stores.  While gas prices have inched higher in recent weeks, they are still trending 38% lower than this time last year when prices were soaring to near $4 a gallon affording consumers some additional discretionary spending.

Press Contact:
Bill Kirk, CEO
bkirk@wxtrends.com
Phone (610) 807-3585

About Weather Trends International:
The global leader of actionable year-ahead business weather guidance for retailers, manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, agricultural firms, financial analysts, equity/energy/commodity traders, ski resorts and consumers.  Clients include some of the worlds most respected and successful companies like Wal-Mart, ASDA, and Target, Kohl’s, Sherwin-Williams, AutoZone, Anheuser-Busch, Johnson & Johnson, SC Johnson, JP Morgan and over 100 others.  Its business centric weather solutions and understanding of how consumers respond to the weather is used throughout organizations to help "manage the weather risk”.  Utilizing technology first developed in the early 1990s, Weather Trends International’s unique statistical math based trade secret formula forecasting methodology projects temperature, precipitation and snowfall trends by day and week a year-ahead for 20,000+ locations across the entire globe with an industry leading 80%+ accuracy.  Offices in New York, NY, Bethlehem, PA and Bentonville, AR.  For more information visit http://www.wxtrends.com/ or http://www.myskeye.com/