May 2018 - Sunshine and rainfall levels

[damianslaw]

This is it feels turning into a notably sunny May - at least here. The outlook for the foreseeable promises lots more sunshine, losing count of the number of clear evenings.

Also, we have so far been spared any significant rainy days, we had two large doses Friday 10 into the 11 and also the following night - great timing.. since its been almost dry, and there is no appreciable rain in the outlook.

Would be good to note current rainfall and sunshine stats.

May can be the sunniest month of the year, often beats July here.. and also the driest, so not unusual, but recent Mays have brought often only average sunshine and rainfall levels, sometimes more rain than normal and cloudier skies.

Might we be on course to see a dry, sunny and warm May - I think so, indeed it has shades of 1989 and 1992 about it, 1998 and 2006 brought a lengthy dry sunny warm period but couldn't sustain itself.

Love May - its the best month in my book.

Edited May 18, 2018 by damianslaw

[Matthew.]

25 minutes ago, damianslaw said:

This is it feels turning into a notably sunny May - at least here. The outlook for the foreseeable promises lots more sunshine, losing count of the number of clear evenings.

Also, we have so far been spared any significant rainy days, we had two large doses Friday 10 into the 11 and also the following night - great timing.. since its been almost dry, and there is no appreciable rain in the outlook.

Would be good to note current rainfall and sunshine stats.

May can be the sunniest month of the year, often beats July here.. and also the driest, so not unusual, but recent Mays have brought often only average sunshine and rainfall levels, sometimes more rain than normal and cloudier skies.

Might we be on course to see a dry, sunny and warm May - I think so, indeed it has shades of 1989 and 1992 about it, 1998 and 2006 brought a lengthy dry sunny warm period but couldn't sustain itself.

Love May - its the best month in my book.

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by Matthew.

[reef]

It has been very sunny so far here too. We're on 174 hours of sunshine so far - an average of 9.67hrs per day. If that was to continue until the end of the month we'd be on 300 hours and only 27 hours short of July 2006 - the sunniest month on record here.

As it stands, we need just another 83 hours by the end of the month to record the sunniest May ever and second sunniest month of the 21st century behind July 2006. That would be just 6.4hrs per day, so very achievable.

As for rainfall, we've only had four days with measurable rain so far and apart from on the 2nd, all of those falls have come overnight.

The persistent clear skies are very evident in the mean max / mean min temperature. Figures to the 18th against the rolling 1981-2010 average:

Mean Max: 18.1C (+3.7C)
Mean Min: 6.6C (+0.0C)

A very pleasant and unusual month so far. It reminds me of a cooler version of July 2006 so it would be fitting if it were up there in sunshine totals.

[Matthew.]

2 minutes ago, reef said:

It has been very sunny so far here too. We're on 174 hours of sunshine so far - an average of 9.67hrs per day. If that was to continue until the end of the month we'd be on 300 hours and only 27 hours short of July 2006 - the sunniest month on record here.

As it stands, we need just another 83 hours by the end of the month to record the sunniest May ever and second sunniest month of the 21st century behind July 2006. That would be just 6.4hrs per day, so very achievable.

As for rainfall, we've only had four days with measurable rain so far and apart from on the 2nd, all of those falls have come overnight.

The persistent clear skies are very evident in the mean max / mean min temperature. Figures to the 18th against the rolling 1981-2010 average:

Mean Max: 18.1C (+3.7C)
Mean Min: 6.6C (+0.0C)

A very pleasant and unusual month so far. It reminds me of a cooler version of July 2006 so it would be fitting if it were up there in sunshine totals.

Do you have local figures for May 1989. I think places down south had 300 hours

[MP-R]

Been a lovely may this year for once! Settled spells are quite a common feature the later in the month one goes but notable this year has been the good weather in the first half of the month which is often unsettled to say the least. The number of good May Day bank holidays says it all!

On about 140 hours so far this month. Not bad going at all. Also very dry with only 19mm of rain, 15 of which was on the second. May is often our best month for thunderstorms here, owing to the average rainfall spike, so just need a few of those to keep the plants (and me) happy.

[reef]

8 hours ago, Matthew. said:

Do you have local figures for May 1989. I think places down south had 300 hours

Unfortunately not, but looking at surrounding sites I imagine it was easily 270+hours around here.

[B87]

Heathrow had 310.1 hrs in May 1989.  This month wont get near that but could end around 260-270.

[Matthew.]

2 hours ago, B87 said:

Heathrow had 310.1 hrs in May 1989.  This month wont get near that but could end around 260-270.

May 1989 was the bees knees. 2018 still on course for near 300 for some. How did May 1992 do for Heathrow?q

[B87]

1 hour ago, Matthew. said:

May 1989 was the bees knees. 2018 still on course for near 300 for some. How did May 1992 do for Heathrow?q

1992 was in the 270s. 1990 was in the 290s.

[reef]

We're up to 205hrs in the first 20 days of the month, which is 101% of the monthly average and identical to the combined total of March and April this year!

Its a bit of a stretch, but if we could manage 11.2hrs of sunshine per day in the last 11 days then we would beat July 2006. This is very unlikely however, especially with the wind being more easterly over the next week. I suspect even beating the May 2001 total of 257hrs might be difficult if there's sea fret around.

[hillbilly]

The sunniest in this area was 1956 with 248 hours,unfortunately it was followed by one of the worst summers known in generations which would even put 2012 and 2008 in the shade.

 

[damianslaw]

On 20/05/2018 at 15:06, B87 said:

1992 was in the 270s. 1990 was in the 290s.

Those stats for May 1989, 1990 and 1992 confirms how affecting those months were for me, during my formative years 11-14 years old, to have three excellent Mays for sunshine warmth and dry weather in the space of 4 years during such an age has lasting impacts, and has always etched in my view that May can be a superb month when it decides to be.

May 2018 will be joining that list - apart from Friday, we may be about to see the best part of nearly 3 weeks with no rain, and just sunny warm weather. The last time we had similiar conditions was July 2014 - though much cooler relatively speaking.

[reef]

Up to 231hrs here now. The North sea muck rolled in this evening so we didn't quite get the maximum sunshine today but still managed a respectable 12.9hrs.

The chances of getting anywhere near July 2006 (327hrs) look lower now as winds are forecast to be predominantly easterly until the end of the month. Hopefully the North sea cloud isn't too persistent.

 

Edited May 22, 2018 by reef

[B87]

21 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Those stats for May 1989, 1990 and 1992 confirms how affecting those months were for me, during my formative years 11-14 years old, to have three excellent Mays for sunshine warmth and dry weather in the space of 4 years during such an age has lasting impacts, and has always etched in my view that May can be a superb month when it decides to be.

May 2018 will be joining that list - apart from Friday, we may be about to see the best part of nearly 3 weeks with no rain, and just sunny warm weather. The last time we had similiar conditions was July 2014 - though much cooler relatively speaking.

This month is now the first above average sunshine May since 2011 (you'd have to go back to May 2005 to find the next one), the first month to record over 200 hours since June 2017, and the first sunnier than average warm season (May-Oct) month since September 2015!

Edited May 23, 2018 by B87

[Sunny76]

1980 had a sunny May. 

[reef]

We finished on 280 hours of sunshine in the end, making it comfortably the sunniest on record and only 47 hours less than July 2006. Spring as a whole finished on 104% of average despite only 74% and 79% of normal sunshine in March and April.

The mean max was also the highest on record, at 17.6C, beating the previous record of 17.4C which was set last year.

Rainfall-wise it was the driest May since 2010 with 31.6mm of rain, 68% of normal.

[Terminal Moraine]

235 hours of sunshine here made  May the sunniest since 1989. A nearby site recorded 245 hrs in May 1992 but that was using a Campbell Stokes recorder which had a better exposure to the W/NW than my site, and which also tend to over- record during periods of intermittent sunshine when compared to an electronic recorder. I estimate my current site and instrument would have recorded about 228 hours in May 1992.

[WhiteFox]

Beautiful month. May is up there with my favourites because it gets warm but generally not too humid. The final week was starting to get a little uncomfortable though!

Pattern matching is very unscientific I know, but I wonder if we could see so.ething like the summer of 1995? My recollection is that high pressure was slightly further north than usual for much of the time so we had a generally easterly flow which gave us a dry warmth. My memory is that it was never too humid and August 1995 stands out as one of the great summer months on record in terms of sunshine and dry weather. Helped that it was just after my first year of university so I had three months of doing very little! 

With the Jetstream remaining weak who knows? I guess we'll have to wait and see if the Jetstream remains weak later this month which is when it often goes wrong, especially in the last few years!