May 2025 started with a bang.
After the heat peaked at the end of April, the 1st May was the warmest ever for that date in the UK. Kew Gardens reached 29.3 degC, closely followed by Wisley and Chertsey at 29.2 degC. We all thought the earliest May day to record the magic 30 degrees was going to be shattered (held by 12th May 1945), but it didn’t quite happen.
Here in little-old Durham, in Gilesgate, it was also incredibly hot. I got to 27.1 degC which is unprecedented really for this time of the year here.
By 2nd of May, temperatures were a lot lower and didn’t even make 20 degC. It felt quite cool after such a rip-roaring start, but of course it was quite normal. On 4th May the maximum reached only 9.6 degC. This definitely felt cold!
Another very fine and warm spell ran from 9th-13th, with 23.0 degC reached on the 10th.
Overall, the 20 degree mark was reached on 11 days, which is 4 more than last year.
The incredibly dry spell of Spring continued, with only 4 days up to the 21st having rain. There had been no appreciable rain since 22nd March 2025. There had been little cyclonic at all this month, with High Pressure completely dominating up until then.
The drought was broken overnight on 23rd/24th when pressure dropped and an Atlantic front crossed the country from the West. 10.0 mm fell in 6 hours. This heralded a damp week, with the rainfall total crawling inexorably close to the 1″ mark by the end of the month, but still not quite getting there.
The rainfall pattern for Spring 2025 was very similar to Spring 2020 (lockdown Spring)
2020 Spring Rainfall (mm) : Mar 22.0, Apr 3.9, May 22.9 = Total : 48.8 mm
2025 Spring Rainfall (mm) : Mar 19.1, Apr 3.5, May 24.8 = Total : 47.4 mm
Hopefully the Summer will be better than that of 2020 though. The total rainfall was 290.8 mm
May 2025 Weather Stats for Durham
Mean Temp : 12.3 degC
Mean Max : 17.6 degC
Mean Min : 8.4 degC
Absolute Max : 27.1 on 1st
Absolute Min : 1.9 on 6th
Air Frosts : 0
Total Rain : 24.8 mm
Wettest Day : 10.4 mm on 24th
Rain Days : 11
Average per rain day : 2.3 mm
Barometer Max : 1034.6 mb
Barometer Min : 1000.6 mb
Barometer Mean : 1022.3 mb
Predominant Weather : A 6.8