Climate averages 1991–2020
Halifax weather
in May.
A cool, moderately wet month: the 6th warmest and the driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a cool month in Halifax: daytime highs average 12.0°C and nights cool to about 5.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the 6th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 83 mm of rain on roughly 11 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the driest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 47 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Dartmouth (3 km away). In May its highs average 13.6°C, 1.6°C warmer than Halifax, with 83 mm of rain.
Among the 86 cities listed in Canada, Halifax ranks 84th of 86 for the warmest May highs and joint 38th of 86 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 86 cities is 17.0°C; Halifax is 5.0°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 4.8°C to 16.8°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 83 mm to 98 mm.
The annual picture
May in context
Monthly precipitation
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Halifax climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Precipitation mm/month | Wet days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | -0.4°C-7.1°C | -7.1°C | 111 | 11.5 | 9.29 h |
| February | -0.2°C-7.0°C | -7.0°C | 101 | 10.5 | 10.410 h |
| March | 2.5°C-3.7°C | -3.7°C | 108 | 12.0 | 11.912 h |
| April | 7.0°C1.1°C | 1.1°C | 92 | 12.1 | 13.413 h |
| May, selected | 12.0°C5.8°C | 5.8°C | 83 | 11.2 | 14.815 h |
| June | 16.8°C11.0°C | 11.0°C | 98 | 11.7 | 15.516 h |
| July | 20.7°C15.7°C | 15.7°C | 90 | 10.3 | 15.215 h |
| August | 21.4°C16.5°C | 16.5°C | 91 | 10.2 | 14.114 h |
| September | 18.6°C13.7°C | 13.7°C | 97 | 9.4 | 12.613 h |
| October | 13.2°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 124 | 10.6 | 11.011 h |
| November | 7.9°C3.1°C | 3.1°C | 129 | 11.1 | 9.610 h |
| December | 3.0°C-2.5°C | -2.5°C | 134 | 13.3 | 8.99 h |
Precipitation (rain or snow, as water) is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A wet day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
May in nearby cities
- Dartmouth in MayCanada · 3 kmHigh 13.6°C · Low 6.0°C · 83 mm rain
- Moncton in MayCanada · 187 kmHigh 15.3°C · Low 5.7°C · 85 mm rain
- Saint John in MayCanada · 207 kmHigh 13.4°C · Low 6.1°C · 104 mm rain
- Sydney, Canada in MayCanada · 313 kmHigh 11.5°C · Low 4.7°C · 86 mm rain
- Québec in MayCanada · 640 kmHigh 17.1°C · Low 6.7°C · 101 mm rain
- Lynn in MayUnited States · 641 kmHigh 16.7°C · Low 9.6°C · 84 mm rain
- Lawrence (Massachusetts), United States in MayUnited States · 647 kmHigh 19.2°C · Low 9.4°C · 78 mm rain
- Boston in MayUnited States · 654 kmHigh 18.8°C · Low 9.3°C · 81 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Halifax) is explained once on the Halifax year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Dartmouth lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.