Our warmest May – and spring – on record
We’ve recorded the warmest May – and the warmest spring overall – on record at our site in Invergowrie, mirroring UK-wide May and spring temperature records.
May’s daily mean air temperature at Invergowrie was 14.3ºC, making it 4.3 ºC warmer than the long-term average.
This also made Invergowrie warmer than the overall UK record average mean for May, reported by the Met Office, at 13.1ºC.
Record May influenced by above average northern UK
The record high May temperatures were influenced particularly by above average temperatures in the northern half of the UK, according to the Met Office, whose data goes back to 1884.
It said that Scotland’s May mean temperature of 12.3°C beating 2018’s previous record by 1.6°C.
The previous warmest May on our records at Invergowrie (which date back to 1954) was in 2017, with a daily mean record air temperature of 12.3ºC. The warmest day in May was the 11th, at 22.9ºC, while the coldest was on May 21, at 7.1ºC.
Meanwhile, the daily mean air temperature through spring (March, April, and May), was 9.7ºC, also breaking the 2017 record, which was 9.3ºC.
Again, this mirrored the UK trend, with the UK overall seeing 9.37°C, topping the previous record of 9.12°C set in 2017, according to the Met Office’s provisional data.
Rainfall
In Invergowrie, while it was warm, it wasn’t that dry. This May was the 17th wettest May since our records began in 1954, while spring overall was the third wettest on record.
That’s because it saw 218.5 mm of rain falling in the spring months. The two wetter springs were in 1998 with 241.3 mm and 1969 with 248.4 mm.
Unsurprisingly, May was quite dull, the 16th dullest May in fact, while spring was the 15th dullest spring, with 416 hours of sunshine recorded.
A look back at March and April
March
March 2024 was the 11th wettest March on our records – see table, right.
It was also the 17th warmest March with a daily air mean above the 30-year long term average (1991-2020).
March 2024 sun hours were just below the 30-year long term average (1991-2020).
April
2024 had the 6th wettest April since our records began.
The wetter April months are in the table, left.
April 2024 was the 17th joint (with 1959) warmest April on our records with a daily air mean slightly above the 30-year long term average (1991-2020).
April 2024 sun hours were just below the 30-year long term average (1991-2020).
Read more:
Can we soften the blows of future flooding events?
Second warmest winter on record at Invergowrie
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are the views of the author(s), and not an official position of the institute or funder.
