May 2014 Summary

In Brief:
A dry and sunny middle to the month, but unsettled with rather cool and showery weather either side.
Persistent rain quite rare.

Temperature [Minimum]:
The lowest night-time temperature of the month was 3.2 degs C on the night of 2nd/3rd, which was the coldest May night at this location since at least 2003.  Previously 4.0 degs C had been reached in 2005 and 2010. 
12.5 degs C was the highest minimum of the month, recorded on the night of 28th/29th.  That figure has been surpassed during every May of the last eleven except 2005, whose maximum was 12.4.
The average night-time temperature for May 2014 was 9.18 degs C, the 2nd lowest of the last eleven Mays. 2005 was coldest with 9.03.
In May 2014 the night-time temperature fell below 5 degs C on just one night, the first time this has happened since 2010.

Temperature [Maximum]:
The lowest daytime maximum temperature of May 2014 was 14.7, recorded on both the 2nd and 3rd.  There has been at least one day cooler than this in all of the last eleven Mays.  The warmest day of May 2014 was the 31st, with 21.7 degs C, giving an average of 18.23 degs C.  This makes May 2014 the 4th warmest of the last eleven, and the warmest since 2008.
Maxima exceeded 20 degs C on 7 days in May 2014, the equal highest number of times, with 2007 and 2008, since 2005, although May 2004 saw 10 days with the maximum above 20 degs C.

Rain:
80.1 mm of rain fell during May 2014, making it the second wettest May of the last seven.  May 2013 was the wettest, with 94.7 mm.  April 2014 saw 70.2 mm.
The wettest day of May 2014 itself was the 22nd with 25.5 mm, making it the wettest day since February 14th, and the second wettest May day since at least 2007, not far behind the 14th in 2013 which had 28.2 mm.
There were 12 completely dry days during May 2014, the fewest number of the last seven Mays, and 13 days with no measurable rain.  The longest dry spell of the month was only five days, from the 14th to the 18th.  It should not be considered a wet month however, as there were only three days with more than 6 mm of rain, the other two being the 10th [11.1 mm] and the 25th [10.5 mm].

Cumulatively 705.9 mm of rain have fallen in 2014 until May 31st, which compares with 456.2 mm to the same date in 2013 [+54.7%].

Thunder:
There was thunder on the 22nd.