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 2022

The weather during much of May was mostly quiet and uneventful, rather unsettled and showery for much of the time but with a few warmer and brighter days. Temperatures were mostly above average, especially by night, but the latter part of the month was cooler. There were thunderstorms on several days during the month, mainly for England and Northern Ireland. North-western areas of the UK had a wet month, though some areas of England and Wales were slightly drier than average. Sunshine totals were below average in many areas, especially towards the north-west.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 11.8 °C, which is 1.2 °C above the long-term average. Maximum temperature anomalies were up to +2 °C in some easternmost counties of England, while minimum temperatures were around 2 °C above average for most of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The western side of Scotland had a wet month, with double the average rainfall amount in a few places, and parts of Northern Ireland were rather wetter than average, whereas for England and Wales rainfall was near or rather below average. The UK overall had 107% of average rainfall. Sunshine was below average in most areas, with only eastern and south-east England getting close to average, with an overall figure of 79% of average.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 27.5 °C was recorded at Heathrow (Greater London) on the 17th. A minimum temperature of -1.7 °C was recorded at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 7th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 10th, 65.4 mm of rain fell at Honister (Cumbria). Wind gusts of 52 knots (60 mph) were recorded at Brizlee Wood (Northumberland) on the 25th and 26th.

Regional values for May 2022