Late May heat - warmth, Whit Bank Holidays

[damianslaw]

Thinking back to many a year, I remember a fair number of very warm even heatwave almost late ends to May coinciding with Bank Holiday. Examples that spring to mind include:

1989, 1990, 1992, 1996 (perhaps very tail end or more early June), 2005, 2012, 2018, 2020. I think 2006 was good as well.

Anyone have any stats for say last week May since 89, and CET values for Bank Holiday May weekends. There have been a few shockers as well, 2007 springs to mind, but generally I associate late May with very pleasant decent conditions more often than chilly and wet, but memory my fool me and only remembers the good ones.

[Weather-history]

7 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Thinking back to many a year, I remember a fair number of very warm even heatwave almost late ends to May coinciding with Bank Holiday. Examples that spring to mind include:

1989, 1990, 1992, 1996 (perhaps very tail end or more early June), 2005, 2012, 2018, 2020. I think 2006 was good as well.

Anyone have any stats for say last week May since 89, and CET values for Bank Holiday May weekends. There have been a few shockers as well, 2007 springs to mind, but generally I associate late May with very pleasant decent conditions more often than chilly and wet, but memory my fool me and only remembers the good ones.

29th May 1967: 11.7

27th May 1968: 12.7

26th May 1969: 10.5

25th May 1970: 13.9

31st May 1971: 12.9

29th May 1972: 11.3

28th May 1973: 16.1

27th May 1974: 12.8

26th May 1975: 11.5

31st May 1976: 13.4

Silver Jubilee 1977

6th June 1977: 10.5

7th June 1977: 10.1

29th May 1978: 16.0

28th May 1979: 10.7

26th May 1980: 12.6

25th May 1981: 9.8

31st May 1982: 17.4

30th May 1983: 9.4

28th May 1984: 9.2

27th May 1985: 13.5

26th May 1986: 13.5

25th May 1987: 12.7

30th May 1988: 11.8

29th May 1989: 13.4

28th May 1990: 13.7

27th May 1991: 14.2

25th May 1992: 17.2

31st May 1993: 12.4

30th May 1994: 10.5

29th May 1995: 12.8

27th May 1996: 12.2

26th May 1997: 12.3

25th May 1998: 14.0

31st May 1999: 12.2

29th May 2000: 10.8

28th May 2001: 17.6

Golden Jubilee 2002

3rd June: 13.2

4th June: 12.4

26th May 2003: 11.7

31st May 2004: 13.4

30th May 2005: 12.3

29th May 2006: 10.4

28th May 2007: 8.3

26th May 2008: 12.0

25th May 2009: 14.5

31st May 2010: 11.8

30th May 2011: 12.7

Diamond Jubilee

4th June 2012: 10.3

5th June 2012: 10.1

27th May 2013: 10.1

26h May 2014: 11.3

25th May 2015: 10.3

30th May 2016: 12.2

29th May 2017: 15.2

28th May 2018: 17.9

27th May 2019: 12.2

25th May 2020: 14.3

[Scorcher]

I remember 2007 well- absolutely woeful. At that point I couldn't remember such an awful spell in late May- I didn't know it was possible to get such low temps right at the end of the month. That Bank Holiday felt genuinely like winter.

[Weather26]

2012 kind of goes both ways As i know the end of May 2012 had a brief heatwave but becuase of the Bank Holiday weekend moving to the start of June due to the Jubilee, the actual Bank Holiday Weekend was more akin 2007. 

[Weather-history]

2 hours ago, Scorcher said:

I remember 2007 well- absolutely woeful. At that point I couldn't remember such an awful spell in late May- I didn't know it was possible to get such low temps right at the end of the month. That Bank Holiday felt genuinely like winter.

That was bad

 

[hillbilly]

I think the hottest time for what you are asking occured after the severe winter of 1947,at the end of May and first days of June recorded some of the hottest temperatures recorded so early in the year.Here is what Trevor Harley had to say

 

May. A heatwave began on the 29th and gave some of the highest May temperatures of the century (after 1922 and 1944). On the 29th, 31.7C around Lincoln (Waddington). On the 30th, 31.7 was recorded at Kensington, and many places were above 30. On the 31st, Camden Square reached 32.2, Mildenhall and Kensington Palace 31.7, and many places across the south and east reached over 30C. This is only one of five occasions 32C has been exceeded so early in the year in the century - another indication of what an extraordinary year this was. Overall the equal second warmest (with 1919) May this century, at 13.5C.

June. Very warm (15.5C CET). It was very hot at the start, with a few thunderstorms. The temperature exceeded 30C on five successive days (starting in May), with a high of 34.4C on the 3rd in London and Lincoln (Waddington). A thunderstorm in London on the 27th resulted from cloud so dense it was almost completely dark at midday.

[Weather-history]

The old Whitsun Bank Holiday varied like Easter until the 1960s. (7 weeks after Easter)

It wouldn't surprise me if it snowed on a past Whitsun Bank Holiday. 

EDIT: 1891, it was in the back of my head.

Edited May 20, 2021 by Weather-history

[A Face like Thunder]

The Spring Bank Holiday and half term which followed coincided in the late 1970s and 1980s with our cub camps in the south east of England. Weather was as follows:

1978 - hot and sunny throughout the SBH week (No 1, best)

1979 - cool, cloudy  and rained at some time on all 7 days

1980 - sunny and warm but v wet on the Friday after the SBH

1981 - pretty average

1982 - hot and sunny and much more humid than 1978 (No 2, best)

1983 - pretty average, massive thunderstorm on the night of 1st June

1984 - disastrously wet and cold throughout (worst)  

1985 - very warm and thundery until the BH Monday, then sunny with v cold nights

1986 - cloudy and grey throughout

1987 to 1989 - a bit of a blur but let's call them average.

The other memorable SBH Monday was 31st May 1993 by which time I was in the NW of England. I got caught in a huge and v localised storm in the Morecambe area which deposited 1.5 ins of rain in a v short space of time. Ironically when I arrived home in Blackpool, not a drop of rain had fallen there and the lobster-face day-trippers were leaving the resort with smiles on their faces!

 

[SummerShower]

Some others I remember..

2001.  Warm, sunny but humid.  Think some western areas were cloudier though as it was tropical maritime.  A forgotten decent may this.

2009.  Very warm this year as well, a bit plumey on the bh Monday and this was overall a very decent period of weather.

1997 was warm and sunny. Might not call it a heatwave though.  Low 20s.

1999 was very warm and thundery during the weekend, but by the Monday this had cleared.  Further severe storms on the Wednesday after

Edited May 20, 2021 by SummerShower

[SummerShower]

Also, I could be wrong but isnt the highest temperature for the late May Bank Holiday higher than the late August one?  I remember the reports from Aug 2017 saying it was the hottest one and yet it only got to 28c.  I'm sure 1992, 2018  would be close to or exceeded it, and if not then 1947 would have done for sure

[ANYWEATHER]

I wonder if this year's Summer will share a similar fate to Summer 1954?  Just look at the heat to the East of us...!!! 

[LetItSnow!]

1 hour ago, ANYWEATHER said:

I wonder if this year's Summer will share a similar fate to Summer 1954?  Just look at the heat to the East of us...!!! 

Off on a tangent: I could be wrong but IIRC 1954 was a very hot summer stateside, & by the looks of it, it had heat to our east as well. Would have been very unlucky! Can happen occainsonally where the UK is a trough magnet. I think the same was true in Jul. 1988, often hot air was pumped far to our east leaving us in dreary cold conditions. Also a hot summer across parts of the USA.

Edited May 20, 2021 by LetItSnow!
typo

[Weather-history]

1994 was a sunny one for most of the country 

Remember heavy showers during 1995

 

[Summer18]

I remember the late May in 2007, I just stayed In and played on the PlayStation because it rained all day and felt like November. The Jubilee weekend was appalling and one of the summer days I can remember.

Hot ones, I remember 2009 being warm. 2017 was hot the week before and we had a huge Thunderstorm on the Saturday, the Sunday itself was cooler but still nice. 2018 was hot and sunny throughout the full weekend. In fact both bank holidays were hot that month. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Summer18