May 2023 Weather in Durham – Cool and showery at times

May Banner : lambs and sheep

May 2023 starts in showery mood May 2023 started in a showery mood on 1st, with heavy rain and a sharp drop in temperature just after lunch. The thermometer dropped from 15.4 degC at 13:31 to 9.8 degC just an hour later. On 9th there were some very heavy showers, especially around mid-day, yielding 8.6mm … Read more

May 2022 Weather in Durham – On the warm side

Black cats eyes

Temperature The warmer than normal theme in 2022 continued into May, with a mean of 12.8 degC being +1.8 degC above the long term 1991-2020 normal. May 2022 was a full 3.0 degC warmer than May last year. The peak of the temperature was a modest 22.5 degC reached in mid-month. The thermometer only passed … Read more

May 2021 Weather in Durham – Disappointingly cold

Hefty showers in the first week of May 2021

May 2021 was notably cold in the first week. Night time temperatures were only a few degrees above freezing in Durham and the maxima were very disappointing. Along with this, rainfall was on the high side, resulting in the cold start to Spring continuing. The cold nights continued until the last 5 days of the … Read more

The last 5 Mays Weather in the UK according to Trevor Harley

2016 After an unsettled start the rest of the month was largely anticyclonic, with winds generally from the easterly direction, making it particularly warm and sunny in the west, and cooler and cloudier in the east. There was a more unsettled spell midmonth. It was warmer than average, with near average rainfall (92%). Overall sunshine … Read more

May 2020 Weather in Durham – Warm, Dry and Sunny Again

The Weather in Durham in May 2020. May 2020 continued the Spring theme in Durham, that it was very dry overall, after the first few days, but they yielded some heavy hail showers on May 3rd. This picture was taken in Darlington, about 18 miles to the south of Durham. The weather soon calmed down … Read more

May 2019 Weather in Durham – Not really settled yet

May 2019 Summary May opened disappointingly cool, with the preponderence of winds from an Northerly and Easterly sector, the direction no-one wants at this time of the year. There was no real warmth until the 13th and then only for three days! Temperatures did recover a bit in the second half, to give an overall … Read more

Funnel Cloud seen over North East England – 28th May 2019

Funnel cloud seen over north east england 28th may 2019

The report above appeared in the Northern Echo newspaper on 29th May 2019. The axis of funnel clouds may be vertical, inclined (as seen here), or sometimes long and sinuous.  In the UK it is usually tens of metres in diamater (not huge). It is much rarer for funnel clouds to touch the ground and … Read more

A cracking Spring day in May 2018. From Prebends Bridge, Durham

picture of River Wear and Durham Cathedral from Prebends Bridge

A gorgeous day in May 2018. View from Prebends Bridge looking towards Framwelgate Bridge. It was the precursor of a fantastic summer. The Durham Cathedral tower work continues, still shrouded in it’s protective covering. The stonemasons are replacing weathered stone blocks at the top of the Main Cathedral Tower, as they have become dangerous. Prebends … Read more