2 June 2018
By Ella Wills
Last month was the warmest May since records began more than 100 years ago, forecasters have revealed.
Some 245.3 hours of glorious sunshine throughout the month helped create an average daily maximum temperature of 17C, provisional figures showed.
This would beat the previous May record of 16.9C in 1992.
The Met Office said it was also likely to be the sunniest May since 1989, when 241.7 hours of sunshine were recorded.
In a statement, forecasters said it was “a spring of contrasts” but added that the period was 0.3C higher than the average between 1981 and 2010.
Across the UK, the average May temperature was 1.5C above the long-term 1981-2010 average at 11.9C.
Derbyshire, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and the Isle of Wight all recorded daytime maximum temperatures 3C or more above their average temperatures for the month.
Tim Legg, of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, said: “Increased sunshine during the month has helped to keep daytime temperatures high, leading to it provisionally being the warmest May since records began in 1910. It is also likely to be the sunniest May since 1929 too.”
Records for temperature began in 1910 and sunshine in 1929.
Less than than two-thirds of the expected amount of rain fell during May.
But with wetter than average spells during March and April, the rainfall for the UK for spring as a whole – March to May – was near average, the Met Office said.
Sunshine figures for spring were largely average with 463 hours of sunshine recorded compared with 435 hours in an average spring.
Be the first to comment