Huddersfield Weather Watch – May 2015

Fri, 19 Jun 2015 14:39:00 BST

Coolest May since 1994 and third wettest

After many months with few weather extremes, May has excelled itself!  Cool, wet and windy sum it up well.  The average figures are those recorded since 1990 from the School of Applied Sciences weather station.

It was the coolest May since 1994 and the second coolest since our records began.  The monthly mean temperature was 11.19˚C over a degree cooler than the average for May of 12.4˚C.  The maximum temperature for the month reached a disappointing 20˚C on Monday 11^th; the second lowest maximum temperature for the month since 1990 (average 24.5˚C).  The warmest day of the month was Sunday 10^th with an average temperature of 15.6˚C (average 18˚C).  The coldest day of the month was Friday 1^st with an average temperature of 7.1 ˚C; the minimum temperature of 4˚C was also recorded on this day.

It was the third wettest May in Huddersfield since our records began with a total of 94.6mm of rainfall (2014 was the second wettest with 117.8mm and 2006 the wettest with 120mm) the average expected rainfall is 55.63mm.  The wettest day of the month was Friday 8^th with 32mm of rain (33.8% of the month’s total rainfall) making it the second wettest day recorded in May since our records began and the wettest day since 27^th July 2013 when 32.2mm of rainfall was recorded.  Thirteen days of the month escaped rainfall, the driest spell falling between Wednesday 20^th and Tuesday 26^th inclusive. 

The mean wind speed for the month was 14.58km/hr making it the windiest May since 2011.  The highest mean wind speed was 27.36km/hr recorded on Monday 11^th.  The maximum gust of wind for the month was 108.36km/hr recorded on Tuesday 5^th May.

The prevailing wind direction was south west.

 

Julie Walker
Resource Centre and Environmental Technician
School of Applied Sciences

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