Up until the 13th, May has been a very cool month unless you live in the southern half of Iberia or Russia. In fact the first half to May 2019 may have been the coldest in several years, especially for central Europe while warmest on record for Russia.
The previous two May’s was dominated by record warmth with 29.4C reached at Lossiemouth in 2017 and warmest early May bank holiday on record for the UK in 2018 with 28.7C at Northolt.
As for May 2019, we’re bucking the trend of the last two warm years with cool the big story. Last week started with the UK’s coldest early bank holiday since 1978 with a UK-wide maximum failing to reach 14C.
We also observed a reading of -6.2C at Kinbrace, Sutherland which was the UK’s coldest May low since the same temperature was recorded in 2012. Since 2000, only 2005 and 2011 saw a reading marginally lower than this year and 2012 with -6.3C at Altnaharra, Sutherland. The record low for May? -7.7C recorded at Kinbrace back in 1981. Ironically, while Scotland observed a cold minimum in May 2012, that same month produced Scotland’s warmest May day with 30.9C achieved at Inverailort, Highland.
Since its inception in 1978, our coldest #MayBankHoliday was in 1982 when the UK afternoon high was only 14.5C. Looks like we could fall well short of that tomorrow … ?
Matt pic.twitter.com/XHVPhHkbFD— BBC Weather (@bbcweather) May 5, 2019
Kinbrace in northern Scotland was cold last night and here temperatures will plummet again tonight. To put this into context, the record for the lowest minimum temperature in May in Scotland is -7.7 °C recorded at Kinbrace in 1981 pic.twitter.com/XcpkDHMiun
— Met Office (@metoffice) May 7, 2019
We’ve already turned the corner here in Scotland from 5-10C last Monday.
To 21-25C and unbroken sun day after day this week. Yesterday saw the peak of the warmth.
The Highland region of Scotland has been home to the coolest mornings and warmest afternoons anywhere in the UK. In the last 8 days, we’ve seen a swing of 32C from -6.2 to 25.8C, a swing of 30.4C within 3 days and as much as 25.6C within 15 hours thanks to clear, calm and most importantly, dry air.
While Scotland has enjoyed summer, many central parts of Europe including the Mediterranean island of Corsica has seen record cold days and even disruptive snow.
Europe highs yesterday.
#Neige en #Corse : ré-ouverture du Col de Vizzavona aux véhicules équipés !
Soyez prudents sur les routes, la neige est descendu jusqu'à 600m !#VigilanceJaune en cours @VigiMeteoFrance
Les premiers #orages frôlent le Nord de l'île.
Données @meteofrance & https://t.co/ujsmViAjsJ pic.twitter.com/5XjrLUpYb7— Sébastien BAILLE (@SebastienBaille) May 15, 2019
In Hurbanovo, southern Slovakia we had yesterday lowest Daily Maximum (8,4 °C) since February…
And lowest for 2nd May decade since 1901https://t.co/FDWh6Dr6t1https://t.co/iUmnonzGzZ pic.twitter.com/RGn6ByTRXc— Zdenek Nejedly (@ZdenekNejedly) May 15, 2019
While southern parts of Britain warm and Scotland cools as we end the week, the chill hangs on for central and south-central Europe.
Despite the cool first half, I expect the month to average out near normal for at least the UK but central Europe won’t recover as much.
Warmth expands for last 10 days of May.
Recent Comments