May 2024
SUMMARY OF THE METEOROLOGICAL READINGS AT DURHAM UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY
May 2024
Temperatures (all temperatures in degrees Celsuis; all averages 1991-2020)
Mean daily maximum: 17.3 Difference from average: +1.9
Mean daily minimum: 9.8 Difference from average: +3.3
Mean air temperature: 13.6 Difference from average: +2.5
Absolute maximum: 22.8 (11th)
Absolute minimum: 4.9 (21st)
Mean grass minimum: 8.7 Difference from average:
Absolute grass minimum: 2.9 (21st)
Mean concrete minimum: 10.7
Absolute concrete minimum: 6.2 (21st)
Number of ground frosts: 0 Difference from average: -4
Number of air frosts: 0 Difference from average: -1
Mean soil temperature at 300 mm depth: 14.5
Mean soil temperature at 1000 mm depth: 12.1
Rainfall (all totals in millimetres; all averages 1991-2020)
Total for the month: 75.6 Difference from average: +31.1
Percentage of the average: 170%
Wettest day: 28.2 (22nd)
Number of rain days (>0.1 mm): 16 Difference from average: +2
Number of wet days (=>1.0 mm): 11
3-month total rainfall to 2024 31st May 2024: 206.0 Difference from average: +66.3
6-month total rainfall to 2024 31st May 2024: 440.6 Difference from average: +101.3
12-month total rainfall to 2024 31st May 2024: 973.4 Difference from average: +292.4
Sunshine (all totals in hours; all averages 1991-2020)
Total for the month: 140.0 Difference from average: -47
Percentage of the average: 75%
Mean daily sunshine: 4.5 Difference from average: -1.5
Sunniest day: 8.4 (18th)
Number of days with no recorded sunshine: 1
Note that the monthly sunshine total is now calculated from the UKMO E&NE regional total. Daily sunshine totals quoted here and in the data summary are uncorrected.
Wind (kph; all data from the West Building roof, Lower Mountjoy campus)
Average wind speed: 5.0
Maximum gust: 46.7 (30th, 12:45,
Comments on May 2024
This was the warmest May on record at Durham since records began in 1844, beating the previous record holder, 2004, by 0.2 °C. There were no days with a maximum above 25 °C, but this is not unusual: only 8 May days this century have been above 25 °C. Only 6 days exceeded 20 °C. But there were no cold days either, with the lowest maximum being 12.8 C on the 22nd. So, days may not have felt exceptionally warm, but it was nevertheless the equal 5th highest mean maximum for May. Night-time temperatures were exceptionally mild: there was highest mean minimum air temperature (9.8 °C) for May since 1844, surpassing last year’s record by an astonishing 1.4 °C, 3.3 °C above the 1991-2020 average. Nineteen nights had a minimum no lower than 10 °C, easily the lowest total on record; the previous record was 12 in 2004. Not surprisingly, there were no air frosts or ground frosts.
May was also a wet month, although not exceptionally so: the 29th wettest May on record, and less than half the wettest ever May in Durham, exactly 100 years ago in 1924 (154 mm). Being a wet month, it was likely to be a dull month too – in fact the 28th dullest May on record.
Spring was the equal third warmest on record at Durham (9.7 °C, with 2011), beaten only in 2017 (9.8 °C) and 2004 (9.9 °C). The average daytime maximum (13.3 °C) was the equal 13th highest on record but, not unexpectedly given night-time temperatures in May, the mean minimum temperature (6.2 °C) was easily the highest on record, 0.9 °C above the previous record holder, 2014. It was the 15th wettest spring on record. The 12-month total ending in May 2024 (973.4 mm) is the equal 10th highest for any 12-month total in the entire Durham record; the highest 12-month total is for the period April 2012 to March 2013 (1129.9 mm). Not surprisingly, it was a very dull spring, the 21st lowest total since 1882.
Emeritus Professor Tim Burt
Department of Geography
Durham University