Monthly Summary for May 2014 and Spring 2014

MAY
The weather in May came in three distinct parts. The first ten days were wet commencing with the wettest day of the month on the 1st with 16.3mm. From the 11th to the 19th temperatures rose into the twenties with a high of 25.4C on the 19th and very little rain. There were five consecutive dry days. However, from the 20th low pressure settled over the UK bringing unsettled weather with much rain and depressed temperatures. The thermometer struggled to reach 13.1C on the 28th and 13.4C on the 23rd when the mean is 17.3C.

The total rainfall was 105.5mm, which is 181% of the 30-year average or an extra 47.2mm. There were only twelve dry days. The number of wet days, which are classed as daily precipitation equal to or more than 1mm, also totalled twelve. It is interesting to see that over the past thirty years the trend for the number of wet days in May has been rising from around eight in the 1980s to eleven, on average, in recent years.

The mean temperature for May was 0.47C above the 30-year average. The daytime mean was almost equal to the long-term average but nighttime temperatures were +0.8C. There was just one air frost when the thermometer briefly dropped to -1C just before dawn on the 3rd. It is notable that May was the sixth successive month with an above average mean temperature.

Hail fell on the 6th, a misty start occurred on the 16th and 17th, thick fog greeted the morning of the 21st and a clap of thunder was heard on the 22nd.

SPRING
The total rainfall for the three months was 230mm, which is 130% of the 30-year average or +53mm. The record high spring rainfall was in the year 2000 when 279mm fell that contrasts markedly with just 65mm in 2011.

The mean temperature was 0.9C above the 30-year average being the fourth warmest after 2011, 2007 and fractionally below the mean in 1999. Thankfully, spring 2014 was 3C above the mean for 2013.