Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

Those interested in climate change and predictions of future climates should also visit the Climate Change pages.

UK last month

May 2024

May started with thunderstorms across southern England, and the weather continued to be unsettled for the first week. Low pressure systems brought scattered showers across the UK, some of them locally heavy. However, a high pressure system covered England and Wales on the 8th and brought more settled weather, extending up towards Scotland by the 10th. The clear weather coincided with a large solar flare on the 10th that led to the aurora borealis being visible across the entire UK. However, low pressure systems returned towards the middle of the month, bringing further unsettled weather and more thunderstorms across the UK. Rainfall was at times heavy, especially in northern England on the 21st and 22nd, but otherwise patchy and light, with some bright, sunny spells. This pattern of unsettled weather continued for the rest of the month.

The UK experienced its warmest May on record, in a series going back to 1884. The UK provisionally recorded a mean temperature of 13.1°C, 2.4°C above the average May temperature and 1°C above the previous record (12.1°C in 2008). England, Scotland and Northern Ireland all provisionally experienced their warmest Mays on record, while Wales experienced its equal-warmest May. Although the first half of the month saw average rainfall, amounts increased for many by the end of the month, resulting in the UK recording a provisional 82.5mm of rain (116% of the average May rainfall). Much of this was concentrated in England, especially northern England, which saw 155% of its average May rainfall. Provisionally, the 22nd was the wettest spring day on record for northern England, and some stations in the area experienced record-breaking amounts of rainfall: for example, Keswick received provisionally 94.8mm of rain on the 22nd, doubling its previous May record of 44.6mm. Northern Ireland was the driest country, provisionally recording just 63% of its average May rainfall. Sunshine hours were slightly below average, with the UK provisionally recording 159.3 sunshine hours (83% of the average for May).

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 27.5°C was recorded at Chertsey Abbey Mead PS (Surrey) on the 12th. A minimum temperature of -1.1°C was recorded at Kinbrace (Sutherland) on the 21st. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 23rd, 124.0mm of rain fell at Honister Pass (Cumbria). A wind gust of 48 knots (55 mph) was recorded at Orlock Head (Down) on the 23rd.

Regional values for May 2024