Weather and 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 2025

May overall was sunny, warm and dry, with high pressure dominating for most of the month. May started with high pressure situated to the west of the UK. A few frontal systems brought rain to Scotland on the second and third, before the high pressure shifted to sit over the UK. A low pressure system to the southwest of the UK brought some heavy rain and thunderstorms to southwestern England, Wales and Northern Ireland on the 11^th and 12^th, before the high pressure returned once again. The second week of May saw temperatures slightly below average for most areas, before temperatures increased into the third week. Clear skies at night led to some cooler nights, with some frost conditions in northern and rural areas. High pressure persisted through mid-month, with some scattered showers in places but otherwise fine weather for most of the UK. The weather turned more unsettled from the 23^rd onwards, as lower pressure pushed towards the UK and frontal systems brought rain to much of the country. Some showers were heavy with hail and thunder in northern areas on the 25^th, but there were still many areas that saw dry weather. Scattered showers persisted for the next few days, in an unsettled end to May.

Overall, the mean temperature for the UK was provisionally 1.3°C above the long-term average. Northern Ireland was slightly warmer, seeing a provisional mean temperature 1.6°C above the long-term average. Maximum temperatures in particular were high, widely over 2°C above average, while minimum temperatures were only around 0.4°C above average. Provisionally, this was the second warmest May on record in terms of mean temperature for England, the third warmest for Northern Ireland, the sixth warmest for Wales, and the seventh warmest for Scotland. For the UK, it was provisionally the fifth warmest May on record. For maximum temperatures, this was provisionally the warmest May on record for the UK, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and the second warmest for Scotland. The first half of the month saw below average rainfall, with the UK seeing only 3.3mm of rainfall by the 17^th, but this increased through the second half of the month, with the UK provisionally recording 50.9mm of rainfall, 72% of the long-term average. Some areas of western Scotland and northern England, including Renfrewshire and Cumbria, recorded above average rainfall for May, but most places saw below average rainfall. Southern England saw less than half of the average rainfall for May, although no records were broken. Sunshine was much higher than average across the UK, with all nations provisionally reporting more than 100% of the long-term average sunshine. The UK overall provisionally saw 266.2 hours of sunshine in May, 139% of the average. This was provisionally the sunniest May on record for Scotland and Northern Ireland, the second sunniest for the UK and Wales, and the third sunniest for England.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 29.3°C was recorded at Kew Gardens (London) on the 1^st. A minimum temperature of -5.1°C was recorded at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 23^rd. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 25^th, 72.6mm of rain fell at Seathwaite (Cumbria). A wind gust of 57 knots (66 mph) was recorded at Needles (Wight) on the 27^th.

Regional values for May 2025