How bad is May 2015 so far...

[Summer of 95]

If we dont hit 20C by the end of May it will be the first time since at least the 1980s. Even the really cold springs of 1996 and 2013 managed it. Every sunny day has been too windy, the only time the wind has eased a bit has been when it's raining.

Regarding vile Mays, 2006 was one save for a few warm days in the first week. The second half was a constant barrage of rain bearing depressions, giving little hint of what was to come...

[reef]

Here to the 18th:

 

Mean Max: 15.1C (+0.3C)

Mean Min: 6.7C (+0.0C)

Mean: 10.9C (+0.2C)

 

Rainfall: 48.0mm (179%)

Sunshine: 100.1hrs (89%)

 

Highest Max: 21.4C (11th)

Lowest Min: 0.0C (1st)

 

Pretty average to be honest, apart from the rainfall. 31mm of that though fell on the 3rd and 5th, so not as bad as it looks.

[cheese]

^^ same average high to here - but it's cool for us. Average high for 1981-2010 is 16.0C.

Edited May 19, 2015 by cheese

[Woollymummy]

The weekend just gone was great, two whole days without rain, enabling much allotment work to get done plus our son's birthday party in the garden to be fun and happy without coats or brollies. Yesterday's weather would have made me cry if it had happened on Sunday, as it was, hearing rain like gravel being chucked at the windows at work made me feel smug and cosy :-)

[Lake District Blizzards]

Two days of max temps of 11c have now brought the mean maximum down to 11.9c

 

this is 3.6c below the average for here

 

Rainfall is now 80mm or 130% of the total average

 

Sunshine is on 69 hours, May average is 210 hours here, so only 33% so far

[Terminal Moraine]

This May is a bit on the cool and wet side but, up to now, it's not in the same league as 1996 for persistent cold or 1983 for rainfall and lack of sunshine.

Although, if the weather we've got today continued until the end of the month it would certainly be a contender for any one of  the coolest, dullest and wettest on record.

[Bottesford]

Berlin is much the same as London really - very little difference between the two cities - except Berlin is a little drier.

 

Compare Berlin to Leeds - Berlin is about 2C warmer in the Jun-August period and sunnier, but it's duller in the winter - very much so actually. Berlin gets about 37  hours of sun in December on average which strikes me as exceptionally dull, and considering that winters in Berlin are only borderline cold, it means most of the time it won't be snowy - it actually has a high incidence of rain days despite the low amount which indicates a lot of drizzle to me.

 

The things that make Berlin better than Eastern England in general are - a) more prone to heatwaves, less prone to cool weather in summer, and b) more thunderstorms in general. Also less prone to low cloud but go to places like Hamburg and it's a different story.

 

 

You are correct - winters are extremely dull here and snow is not that common as it doesn't rain much. Borderline cold is right - it sticks around -1c to 3c for weeks on end under slate grey skies for a lot of the time in the Nov-Jan period. Last winter we got a few snow events but a lot of it was wet snow. But the previous winter we got a weekend of lows of -13c with maxes of -10c under clear skies - lovely! And was far less dull overall so was fooled a bit thinking it wasn't too bad here.. Until this past winter. Ugh.... saps you of everything it does.

Summer deffo far far better. Outdoor events/bars etc are the norm here as its more reliable. Plus the low cloud cack is quickly vaporised during late Feb - unlike that North Sea stuff! If you can grit your teeth for a few months through the winter, I much much prefer the climate here.

[cheeky_monkey]

Sounds like a less continental type of weather to Calgary...where it rarely gets frontal rain..maybe 3/4 times a year..the rest is made up of storms in the summer...it rarely rains if at all outside of the May to August period thereafter its is predominately dry with any precipitation being snow..big difference is that Calgary is remarkably sunny all year round.

[Mountain Snow]

Heavy shower has just passed through bringing the temp down to 7.8C. This month really is struggling temperature wise.

I'm sick to the back teeth of this persistent NW wind now. Not much sign of improvement either.

[Harve]

I'm not sure how it compares to average, but it's been great in Belgium with only a few windy, dull and drizzly days with average temperatures of 19c, which slightly spoilt Pride last Saturday. I believe the peak temperature has been 26c.

 

I guess north westerlies don't really affect the climate too much here. 

[Airedalejoe]

Very poor here. An almost constant wind and day after day of well below temps. Been several day's when it looks lovely from behind glass but once outside the cold is felt. Global warming is passing my part of the world by, today started typically, temp this morning just scraped out of single figures but then heavy showers saw the temp at 2pm drop to 4C!! Must be a time/date cold record there?

[The PIT]

Although the temp have been below normal there have been some warm pleasant days as well. The majority of the rain fell in the first 8 days and with very dry air the ground was bone dry until yesterday. The lawn in fact needs spiking to let rain drain down. Yup breezy but that's not uncommon in May though.

[Milhouse]

After another rubbish cold day this May is now classed as poor here. Where is the warmth??

[reef]

After another rubbish cold day this May is now classed as poor here. Where is the warmth??

As mentioned above with the figures to back it up, it has been completely average in our neck of the woods temperature-wise. The average max for the entire month here is just 15.5C so today's max of 12.9C though disappointing is completely normal. Don't forget it reached 21C last Monday - over 6C above average.

As TM mentions, this month is nothing compared to 1996 or even recently the first two-thirds of 2010.

Edited May 19, 2015 by reef

[4wd]

Average here is 8.5C so far which is 1.5C below normal.

That 21C must have been quite localised because 18.7C on 23rd April is our highest so far.
11th May touched 17.1C. Air frost on the 1st and 8th.
Rain to date just below monthly average (for the whole month)  so nothing unusual, especially considering the 5 previous months only had about 50% normal rather welcome really.

Edited May 19, 2015 by 4wd

[Woollymummy]

Who needs to go storm chasing? This makes me want to hide under the duvet, I feel so cold today!

Edited May 19, 2015 by Woollymummy

[IanR]

shocking month,   infact the whole of this spring has been lacklustre, april had some reasonable days but nothing noteworthy warmth wise, just an average month overall,   no storms either ,watching them fire up today all over england apart from the nw is particularity galling , but it does not surprise me, and the fact that  the cold north westerly wind off a colder than average atlantic has been relentless for weeks now and is grating my nerves,  never known a may as poor , feels like early march at best for most of the time,  

Edited May 19, 2015 by IanR

[AderynCoch]

As TM mentions, this month is nothing compared to 1996 or even recently the first two-thirds of 2010.

I remember 1996. The temperatures were certainly shocking (it's one of the coldest Mays in the entire CET record) but I don't recall the sheer amount of windy/rainy unpleasantness which this month has delivered on tap. Ditto 2010.

 

Another write-off today, with last night's rain continuing right through the morning. Even though it was convective rainfall (as opposed to frontal) the rain still managed to form a constant barrage instead of the sunshine and showers type which at least gives nice weather in-between the brief downpours. It finally brightened up in the afternoon but yep, you guessed it, that horrible wind was there to ruin any feeling of warmth.

[Thundery wintry showers]

This May has so far been quite unusual for the frequency of breezy westerly types, and although the Mays of 2002 and 2003 were comparably breezy and "westerly", they were warmer due to the winds tending to come from slightly south of west.  

 

However, some of the descriptions in this thread give the impression that it's been a re-run of June 2012 (or June 1987, for those who are old enough to remember it).  There may be local exceptions but it hasn't generally been anywhere near that level.  I think perceptions may also be being skewed by the exceptionally sunny and dry April that many parts of the country have just had.

Edited May 19, 2015 by Thundery wintry showers

[hillbilly]

This May has so far been quite unusual for the frequency of breezy westerly types, and although the Mays of 2002 and 2003 were comparably breezy and "westerly", they were warmer due to the winds tending to come from slightly south of west.  

 

However, some of the descriptions in this thread give the impression that it's been a re-run of June 2012 (or June 1987, for those who are old enough to remember it).  There may be local exceptions but it hasn't generally been anywhere near that level.  I think perceptions may also be being skewed by the exceptionally sunny and dry April that many parts of the country have just had.

It says it all'1987 for those that remember it'.Am only in my 40's but it seems strange to me that people would not remember that year!I guess many on here do not as they are in their 20's or 30's and maybe havnt experienced too many cold or wet Mays.It does however seem to me that Mays in the last 20 years have been better than those from previous years[generally] obviously not 1992 though ,remember it well,hot!

[reef]

It says it all'1987 for those that remember it'.Am only in my 40's but it seems strange to me that people would not remember that year!I guess many on here do not as they are in their 20's or 30's and maybe havnt experienced too many cold or wet Mays.It does however seem to me that Mays in the last 20 years have been better than those from previous years[generally] obviously not 1992 though ,remember it well,hot!

It puts it into perspective how Mays have changed in recent years. Only two single days recorded maxima above 20C here in May 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 combined. Nowadays, a high maximum of 21C in May would make it the lowest in 21 years.

 

You also have to go back to 2000 for a mean maximum temp below 15C here, yet between 1980 and 1988, every year apart from 1982 had a mean maximum below 14.6C (and 1983, 1984, 1985 and 1987 were all below 13C).

[The PIT]

This May has so far been quite unusual for the frequency of breezy westerly types, and although the Mays of 2002 and 2003 were comparably breezy and "westerly", they were warmer due to the winds tending to come from slightly south of west.  

 

However, some of the descriptions in this thread give the impression that it's been a re-run of June 2012 (or June 1987, for those who are old enough to remember it).  There may be local exceptions but it hasn't generally been anywhere near that level.  I think perceptions may also be being skewed by the exceptionally sunny and dry April that many parts of the country have just had.

Pretty much agree with this. Official CET figures shown an average month temp wise albeit wet.

[Weather-history]

I am glad I have been doing daily time-lapses, although they don't give an indication of temperatures, they do show weather conditions for the general area and they to me show that this month is not as shocking as some in locations around me are suggesting.

Last week was actually mostly dry here.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Weather-history

[I remember Atlantic 252]

I am glad I have been daily time-lapses, although they don't give an indication of temperatures, they do show weather conditions for the general area and they to me show that this month is not as shocking as some in locations around me are suggesting.

Last week was actually mostly dry here.

 

yes, I would say it's a normal May, a lot of people expect warm sun in May, just dosen't happen

[mountain shadow]

Been miserable over here with major lack of warmth, struggling to get into double digits some days.

heating on throughout the day just about