The nagging northerly breeze on Saturday, gusting to 19mph, pegged back the temperature. A maximum of 17.1C at 15.43 was a significant 3.5C below the early June 40-year average that combined with an element of wind chill meant it felt a couple of degrees cooler outside, especially in the morning. The first of June was dry and the UV level rose to High at its peak.
Under clearing skies the temperature dropped steadily overnight producing a minimum of 4.7C, which was a significant 5.5C below my 40-year average, a cold night.
Sunday for the first hour was calm with strong sunshine, although just after 07.00 a light breeze arose from the north. The direction will change as the afternoon progresses to come from the northwest as the anticyclone makes a small change in position.
The barometric pressure at 08.00 read 1029.3mb, this was the highest since 8th May. As a result Sunday will be dry with several hours of sunshine but from Monday cloud is forecast to be carried across the country as the air collects moisture from the north Atlantic on its way around the anticyclone.
May 2024 Review
Records broken for May and Spring season
May began as previous months with rain on five of the first six days, the 1st being particularly wet with a daily total of 8.5mm. The low-pressure systems also meant daytime highs were depressed.
Thankfully, a high-pressure system began to move in on the 7th that brought dry days and increased warmth. A high of 20.2C on that day was the warmest day since 13th October.
Evaporation has been minimal throughout the very wet autumn and winter. The loss of equivalent rainfall through evaporation from the ground and plant life exceed 3mm per day for the first time since 11th August with 3.41mm logged on the 7th as the ground began to dry out.
The peak of the very warm and dry weather occurred on the 12th when the thermometer rose to a maximum of 26.1C making it the warmest day since 9th October and a significant 8.8C above my 40-year average. The following night gave a minimum of 11.9C, the warmest night since 6th April and 4.9C above the long-term average.
A very welcome dry period lasted from the 14th to the 20th with maxima several degrees above my 40-year average. However, the limited rise in barometric pressure was modest and by the 21st gave way to a depression that arrived over the London area and brought many hours of light rain during the 22nd.
A modest ridge of higher pressure produced the highest UV level on the 23rd that peaked at Very High, the first this year, previously logged on 12th August 2023.
The last week was dominated by a low-pressure system that was reluctant to leave the UK and produced wet and dreary days. My monthly rainfall average of 60.3mm over the past 40 years was just surpassed on the 28th with an additional daily total of 5.8mm.
May was the warmest I have recorded since the station was set up in 1984, the average temperature was significantly 1.75C above my 40-year average. Analysing the data I found that the average maximum was +1.5, however, this was exceeded by the average minimum being +2.0C.
The daily maximum extremes were 26.1C on the 12th but only 12.0C on the 3rd. Likewise, by night a minimum of 11.9C on the 14th but only 3.3C on the 5th.
The graphical trend for May shows an almost continuous rise in the average temperature over the past 40 years, rising from 10.2C in the late 1980s to around 12.0C over the last few years. Check out my website to see the complete data and graphs under the tab ‘Weather records by Month’ for May.
We have now had experienced ten successive months with above average temperatures. An exceptional situation.
The rainfall total of 62.5mm was just 2.2mm above my 40-year average. By comparison, the wettest May occurred in 2007 with 149.5mm and the driest was in 1990 with only 6.7mm.
It was no surprise to find that the highest UV level over the month of 7.1 was the lowest recorded over the past 30 years thanks to the many days of thick cloud and precipitation.
Spring 2024
The three months of meteorological Spring gave us a record season compared to the past 40 years being +1.5C.
The total rainfall for the months March to May was 263mm, which was 149% compared to the 40-year average or +86mm.
