THERE are sound physical reasons why, in a typical English spring, the weather can fluctuate wildly. The dramatic changes we saw in May this year were far from typical.

We began the month needing rain, and there was a short spell early on Friday, May 1, but sunshine that followed dried things up quickly. However, the weather forecast offered significant precipitation over the next few days, and a wet afternoon on the Saturday left 15mm (0.6 inch) in the Wellington rain gauge. For us, that was the most rain in one day since mid-February.

Thunderstorm warnings on Sunday, May 3, led to the cancellation of outdoor events, and there were well-publicised expressions of frustration after the day remained dry. Strong sunshine on the bank holiday Monday, however, led to the development of thundery cloud, and Wellington had a heavy shower in the afternoon, giving another 5mm (0.2 inch). The Met Office rain radar showed this to have been highly localised – Sunday’s rain, but a day late?

The following week was dry, with temperatures generally close to average by day and night. There were variable amounts of sunshine, and with light winds the weather was quite pleasant. On Saturday, May 9, the temperature in Wellington rose above 21⁰C (70⁰F) for the first time since April.

The overall weather pattern changed significantly the next day, a chilly east wind falling light under clearing evening skies, to allow the temperature to drop close to freezing. Then, with a flow of air from the Arctic, the following week was noticeably cool. (Blame the Ice Saints, featured in this paper last week.) There was some sunshine but also showers, especially on Thursday, May 14, the month’s coolest day with a maximum of just 13⁰C (55⁰F) in Wellington.

With the wind then becoming more of a westerly, temperatures edged upwards and there were showers or longer spells of rain. The 8mm (0.32 inch) falling late on Monday, May 18, would be the last significant fall in the month. With increasing amounts of sunshine, daytime temperatures increased rapidly, Friday, May 22, being the first of seven days with a maximum above 25⁰C (77⁰F) in Wellington. We had a similar heatwave in May 2012, giving a new record “high” of 28.6⁰C (83.5⁰F). That figure was exceeded on five successive days this May, peaking at 33.4⁰C (92.1⁰F) on Tuesday, May 26. One leading climate scientist described the weather as “mind-bogglingly crazy”.

With a mean temperature in Wellington of 14.6⁰C (58.3⁰F), it easily surpassed May 2025 as the warmest May ever, also giving us our warmest spring (March, April and May) on record. Slightly cooler conditions to end the month gave some respite but no rain, Wellington’s rainfall total of 42mm (1.68 inches) being just 65% of the average for the month. And worryingly, the amount of rain this spring has been less than we had in spring 2025.