MAY was a warm and rather dry month with some notably high temperatures often more typical of mid-summer.
MAY was a warm and rather dry month with some notably high temperatures often more typical of mid-summer.
In most districts temperatures were above the average of 62F(17C) on 20 days and there were only ten days with measurable rainfall.
The month began with bright sunshine, light south westerly winds and a top temperature of 70F(21C).
Thereafter the weather deteriorated as cloudy and cooler conditions extended to the whole of the region.
A bright and breezy pattern then covered Suffolk with winds gusting to 35 mph on May 8.
Some rain fell on May 13 and measurable rain continued for the next six days with the highest wind velocities at one time reaching 40 mph.
It was all due to a slow-moving depression centred to the south of Ireland.
Apart from a brief wet spell on May 26 and 27, the rest of the month was warm and sunny.
On some days there was unbroken sunshine from dawn to dusk and because of the unusual dryness of the air from Scandinavia, condensation trails from high-flying airliners rapidly disappeared and failed to ruin the rarity of clear skies in East Anglia.
A depression centred near the Faroes gave cloudy and breezy weather for the first day of the Suffolk Show and the mercury reached only a cool 58F(14C).
During some of the magnificent days of late May with cloudless skies and temperatures equal to those of mid-summer, many places registered more than 12 hours of sunshine.
On the last day of the month temperatures in Suffolk reached 72F(22C) - the highest level recorded since September 11 last year.
Rainfall was generally less than the long-term May average and ranged from only 0.77 of an inch at Belstead Hall, near Ipswich, to 1.30 inches at Colchester.
Other reports of rainfall totals during the month included Higham (Suffolk) 1.49 inches, Wattisham Airfield 1.45 in, Felixstowe 1.37 in and Ipswich 1.28 in.
Sunshine was above the long-term average and amounted to 248.0 hours at Colchester and 203.6 at Wattisham Airfield.
The sunniest day of the month was May 31 when the sun beamed down on Suffolk for 15.2 hours.
Highest barometric pressure was 1032 millibars (30.47 inches) on May 29 when a belt of high pressure stretched from the eastern Atlantic, across Britain, to the Baltic.
MAY LONG-TERM AVERAGES and EXTREMES
Average maximum day temperature 62F
Average night minimum temperature 44F
Average number of air frosts 1
Average number of ground frosts 2
Rainfall (1903 to 2008) 1.59 inches
Days with rain 11
Days with thunder heard 3
May average sunshine 214 hours
Maximum possible daily sunshine 15.6 hours
Midday sun altitude (May 15) 57 degrees above the horizon
Barometric pressure (reduced to mean sea level) 1015 millibars
North Sea temperature (10 miles out) 52F
Highest daytime maximum temperature 80F on May 24 1989
Lowest maximum daytime temperature 42F on May 4 1979
Coldest night 28F on May 3 1981
Highest recorded wind speed in a gust 55 mph on May 12 1976
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here