How bad is May 2015 so far...

[cheese]

Average max temp to yesterday is 14.8C which is significantly below average. Rained nearly every day. Outlook suggests that we won't reach 20c this month. Even May 1996 reached 24C.

Edited May 20, 2015 by cheese

[Summer of 95]

Some indication of just how bad it has been for warmth in the west of the UK, here are the highest temps recorded so far this month at some stations:

Tiree 13.2

Ronaldsway 13.4

St Bees Head 13.3

Carlisle 15.8

Aberdaron 14.1

Lake Vyrnwy 13.8

Milford Haven 15.7

Mumbles 15.2

St Athan 16.8

Liscombe 15.8

Culdrose 14.4

Scilly 15.0

Absolutely shocking, particularly in Wales and Cornwall- normally they are quite favoured in spring, easily reaching 20C when an easterly blows down over the mountains.

[coldcomfort]

The standout element here has been temps, especially overnight lows, which have consistently been in the mid single digits. Don't really give a monkeys about the numbers though, what says it all is we had the heating on for 2 nights in Oct, 7 in Nov and 18 in Dec......so far this May it's been on 14 out of 18 nights, that's what I call reliable anecdotal evidence. Just to skew it though, if the missus wasn't here it wouldn't have be on any night and I'd just be reporting on the number of jumpers needed to be worn....

Edited May 20, 2015 by coldcomfort

[damianslaw]

Some good posts, and yes perhaps it is a bit down to perception. Generally May is a sunny month and a relatively dry month , in NW parts at least drier than any of the summer months. Whilst cold nights are still common, I often associate May with a spell of decent sunny dry pleasant weather, not expecting anything esp warm, high teen maxima will do, but so far here we have had no such spell and the outlook suggests we won't now for the whole month. By a spell I mean perhaps 3-5 days length. Not 2 days in a row.

 

The last 26 years have delivered some great spells of weather in May. Highlights - Early May 90 heatwave, I think the end of the month was preety good as well. May 92 was a summery month. May 95 delivered early heat and ended warm. May 98 delivered a glorious warm period mid month. May 06 first 12 days or so excellent.

 

However, it is on average much cooler than September, indeed CET values not too far off October averages.. and you never think warmth in October. SST values are slowly recovering from there minima in late March.

 

This May is a pure reflection of the dominating pattern i.e. ridge to the SW trough to the NW, trough exerting greater influence and associated with an anomalous cold SST pool.

 

On balance so far I'll describe it as rather poor, certainly no shocker or bad, it perhaps feels worse given the good April we have had.

[Weather-history]

To put into perspective, the CET by the 20th May 1996 was just 7.4C, this month it is currently provisionally 10.6C

By the way, it was 12.0C by the 20th May 1992, the warmest May for the CET of the last 150 or so years.

So the current CET doesn't suggest it has been that bad this May.

And I'll stick out my neck here, nothing to suggest it will be as wet as the Mays of 2006 and 2007, the two wettest Mays for England and Wales of recent times.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Weather-history

[AderynCoch]

But it's too simplistic to look at average temperatures for gauging the feel of a month. At this time of year sunshine, rain and wind are all major factors in determining whether or not it feels summery or autumnal. Today for instance was actually quite nice because the sun was out and there wasn't much wind (and what wind there was didn't feel that cold). Earlier this week it felt very unpleasant being out and about due to driving heavy rain and strong chilling winds. and yet the temperatures here today were only slightly up on those grotty days.

 

Simply put, it hasn't felt warm very much at all.

[Wildswimmer Pete]

To go back a lot further, just after that winter, on my birthday (late April 1963) we experienced driving sleet and hail under grey skies while we were shopping in Liverpool City Centre.  However three weeks later in mid-May '63 we had a literal heatwave for over a fortnight, one of the warmest Mays I've experienced.  However on my brother's day of birth in May '57 it snowed.

 

From my highly subjective memory, my junior and teen years (1950s and '60s) saw generally springlike Mays with at least a few warm spells.  Unlike this May.

[cheese]

I don't care what the CET shows - I'm talking about what the weather is like locally - and it has been poor, bordering very poor.

 

May 1996 did manage to reach 24C but we probably won't reach 20C at all.

[conor123]

Not reached 20c here yet this year, even with the decent April, no sign of 20c till June going by today's charts so this is definitely the further est into the year it's happened.

[Summer of 95]

Not reached 20c here yet this year, even with the decent April, no sign of 20c till June going by today's charts so this is definitely the further est into the year it's happened.

Just checked on Tutiempo, 1986 was the last time Shawbury hadn't exceeded 20C by the end of May. So it's certainly very unusual, especially as that was one of the coldest springs on record (unlike 2015). 13th June was the day in 1986, can 2015 beat that?

[MP-R]

Fortunately there haven't been many truly dull days down here. Each day has at least managed a few hours of sunshine bar a select few. The real pain has been the wind. On sunny days such as today or last Saturday, both picture perfect blue skies but a nagging wind. Unsettled weather is pretty normal in May but I'm sure the persistence of wind is not so normal. May is averaging as the windiest month of the year so far here.

[ClaireAnderson]

Well it's been pretty decent this week. The weather has been switching between cloudy and partly cloudy. Yes the humidity level has been pretty high though.

[Thundery wintry showers]

My memories of May 1996 aren't too bad, perhaps because in Tyneside the month was slightly drier and sunnier than average despite the frequent north-easterly winds.  In some other parts of the country it was slightly duller than average, but I can't remember a May in the last 20 years that stood out for being notably cold, dull and wet.  But there have been a few such Junes, hence my references to Junes 1987 and 2012.  

I sometimes wonder what May 1983 was like- cool, wet and exceptionally dull in most parts of the UK, but also exceptionally thundery in many places to the south of the Scottish border.  Often, as in June and July 2012, low temperatures and excessive cloud cover tend to inhibit thundery activity, but evidently not in May 1983.  Anyway, that probably qualifies as our most recent markedly cool dull and wet May.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Thundery wintry showers

[Wynn D Woo]

Fortunately there haven't been many truly dull days down here. Each day has at least managed a few hours of sunshine bar a select few. The real pain has been the wind. On sunny days such as today or last Saturday, both picture perfect blue skies but a nagging wind. Unsettled weather is pretty normal in May but I'm sure the persistence of wind is not so normal. May is averaging as the windiest month of the year so far her

It has been quite windy this month, played havoc with my poly tunnels in the garden.

 

Other than that it really hasn't been to bad a month down here, temperatures have not been great but then there has usually been enough sun to counter that. 

[Eugene]

May is never cold nowadays so this month has been good for above average sunshine here until friday of course which will damage those figures.

 

I must be the only one to like a nice cool breeze on here, i find it so refreshing when outside being active.

[Summer Sun]

This May is pay back for all that settled warm weather we had last month, whether this sort of pattern persists through summer like it has in years gone by remains to be seen of course

Edited May 24, 2015 by Summer Sun

[conor123]

Honestly after this week (Thursday aside) it's definitely up there with my least favorite months now, relentless grey with no clearances even behind weather fronts and the days that have actually been brighter have come with 30mph+ winds.

[Richard2901]

A horror show of a May. What is most shocking, is that asides from the first week, there hasn't really been any outstandingly bad days it is just poor all the time. More or less every single day is rubbish.

 

May 1997 was  the wettest of the last 45 years - but there were still several pleasant warm sunny days with light winds and temps of 17-20C. Last May, the dullest since 1993, also had several days like that. These type of days, which should be a bog-standard occurence in every May, have been entirely absent from this dreadful month.

 

I haven't recorded 18C and at Dyce the highest temperature has been a disgusting 16.9C - comfortably the lowest since 1983. No day has managed 12 hours of sun, reflecting the constantly unsettled conditions and tendancy to cloud up in mid-morning. This is just abysmal for May and last happened in 1979. Doesn't look like we will see a 12-hour sun day in the next week either.

 

Worst aspect has been the wind and the relentlessly unsettled conditions. The first week was exceptionally wet. Since then there's been just 18.2mm but it's rained most days - just one dry day since the 15th - though with no more than 2.8mm on any one day. Truly dire and a familiar story in recent years where rain has become more frequent but there has been a massive reduction in the interesting stuff- heavy downpours and thunder.

 

Sundays have been atrocious, replacing Saturday as the worst day of the week. First two were wet and sunless then last week was sunny until 10am, cloudy with showers thereafter. Today mostly cloudy with a horrible NW wind rattling away. 

 

Just when are we going to see lighter winds? At least if it was SW rather than NW winds it would feel warmer, sunnier and more pleasant. Can't stand these cold, cloudy and nasty north westerlies. Makes it feel like March or October.

 

 

[J10]

To me this weekend, shows the variety of may this year.

 

Yesterday was warm and largely sunny, with long sunny spells.

 

Whereas today while still humid, it is overcast, it was damp and misty earlier, but there are signs of it brightening up a little, even if the cloud satellite suggest rather cloudy for the foreseeable.

 

Certainly not as good as April and probably below average in many respects but this month will be quickly forgotten.

Edited May 24, 2015 by J10

[Summer of 95]

No variety here this weekend, just cloud, cloud, cloud with the sun only visible as it set. All the warmer air has been cloudy, still not reached 20C (now the latest since 1986), the few sunny days all windy. Very poor month.

[damianslaw]

Commented a few times on this month now, and perhaps the most notable aspect of the month has been its changeability, no two days really the same - a very fluid situation. May isn't renowned for quick change, indeed it is traditionally when we see the atlantic at its quietest but not this year.. it must be one of the most 'westerly' for a long time. The outlook suggests more of the same for the rest of the month.

 

Its been relatively disappointing especially when set against April, but there has been the odd decent day here and there, yesterday brought clear blue skies for lengthy periods, the first day of its kind, yet still temps only nudged up to around 16 degrees which under the strength of the sun at this time of year is preety poor.

 

I can't see a temp higher than 15/16 degree max here on out to the end of the month now, meaning we still await our first 20 degree max of the year.

[The PIT]

I don't care what the CET shows - I'm talking about what the weather is like locally - and it has been poor, bordering very poor.

 

May 1996 did manage to reach 24C but we probably won't reach 20C at all.

Not been that bad take away the first 8 days and just down the road we've had just 12.8mm of rain and 7.6mm of that came on one day so a long way from poor or very poor. There's been quite a few warm sunny days within the mix. Looking pretty certain we will get a cool month and it will be above average rain wise courtesy of the first eight days.

[Milhouse]

The last 4 days including today halve helped raise the month back almost towards the acceptable category. Some long overdue warmth on Thursday and Friday and a lovely sunny afternoon yesterday have contributed. 20c was reached on Friday.

[Eugene]

Why are people obsessed with reaching 20C, you can enjoy the weather without hitting such heights, it's been nowhere near as bad as many say, 119% sunshine figures here for week starting May 10th don't lie, it will very interesting to see the CET sunshine figures for this May, last few days sunshine figures won't help though. 

[Milhouse]

Same as people judging a winter month by how many nights below 0c, lack of double digit maxima, Air frosts etc. And what use is blazing sunshine if its only 11c and breezy and you still have to wear a coat to keep warm.

 

Its the truth that the warmest summer months also tend to be the sunniest ones so high presssure and southerlies must bring sunshine.