The total rainfall of 39.9mms made it the driest since 1994 with approximately 55 per cent of the expected amount. The estimated sunshine total of 208 hours was well above the average for May (about 125 per cent).

The daytime temperature average of 18.3C - the 1971-2000 value was 15.2C - and minimum figure of 7.8C were up by almost two degrees on the long-term value. This resulted in an average of 13.1C, some 2.5C higher than the expected.

Temperatures topped 20C from May 5-12, with an absolute maximum of 25.5C on May 11, but there were some cooler days especially around mid-month (down to 11.2C on May 17). There were also some cool nights, notably May 2, 19 and 20, all with air temperatures close to freezing (0.5, 0.4 and 0.3C respectively), but there were nine occasions when night temperatures stayed above 10C, the warmest being 12C on May 30.

After some rainfall on the first few days (9.1mm on May 4), the weather became fine for the most part with measurable amounts of rain on only three days between May 5 and 25. This also was a spell with many sunny days, especially between May 7 and 15. The rest of the month's rain fell between May 26 and 29 (26.8mm) with May 28 being the wettest day (13.4mm).

Much of the fine sunny weather was related to high pressure which, lying to the north and north-east of the British Isles, maintained an easterly airflow across the region, with north-east winds being recorded on 15 days and east or south-east on a further 12.

The highest pressure was the 1028.1mBs recorded on May 6, but with low pressure at only the beginning of May (997.0mBs on May 1) and again near the end (1002.2 on May 28) an average value of 1017.7mBs for the month was achieved.

Visibility was very good on 15 days (at 0900 GMT) and there was no fog or mist. Humidity for the most part was quite low (average R.H. 71.1 per cent) and with only 11 cloudy or overcast mornings and two cloudless ones (May 7 and 8) the cloud cover averaged 52 per cent. There was thunder (but not much rain) on the afternoon of May 10.

Spring 2008

Viewed as a whole, spring has been close to the norm in many respects. The total rainfall of 288.0mm was slightly above the 1971-2000 average of 278.6mm, but March was wetter and May much drier than average.

Average temperatures of 8.6C compare favourably with the long-term figure of 8.4C, although March was cooler and May much warmer than expected. Sunshine figures show about 390 hours over the three months, although April was disappointing and May had more than the average estimated total.

There was no fog or mist, but hail and snow occurred up to mid-April - with 5cm measured on the morning of March 23 - and the last air frost was on April 16, although there were several cold nights with ground frost into May.