Climate averages 1991–2020
Nanaimo weather
in May.
A mild, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 4th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Nanaimo: daytime highs average 16.1°C and nights cool to about 9.5°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 85 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 17 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Vancouver (60 km away). In May its highs average 15.8°C, about as warm as Nanaimo, with 117 mm of rain.
Among the 86 cities listed in Canada, Nanaimo ranks joint 66th of 86 for the warmest May highs and joint 46th of 86 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 86 cities is 17.0°C; Nanaimo is 0.9°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.7°C to 18.8°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 85 mm to 69 mm.
The annual picture
May in context
Monthly rainfall
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
Nanaimo climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.9°C2.0°C | 2.0°C | 253 | 18.5 | 8.79 h |
| February | 6.9°C2.2°C | 2.2°C | 150 | 14.8 | 10.110 h |
| March | 8.9°C3.5°C | 3.5°C | 178 | 17.6 | 11.912 h |
| April | 11.9°C5.8°C | 5.8°C | 123 | 15.2 | 13.714 h |
| May, selected | 16.1°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 85 | 12.1 | 15.315 h |
| June | 18.8°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 69 | 10.6 | 16.116 h |
| July | 22.1°C15.1°C | 15.1°C | 43 | 7.3 | 15.816 h |
| August | 22.3°C15.3°C | 15.3°C | 54 | 6.3 | 14.414 h |
| September | 18.8°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 86 | 9.3 | 12.713 h |
| October | 13.1°C8.2°C | 8.2°C | 177 | 15.2 | 10.811 h |
| November | 8.4°C4.4°C | 4.4°C | 264 | 18.7 | 9.29 h |
| December | 5.6°C2.0°C | 2.0°C | 247 | 18.6 | 8.38 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain 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
- Vancouver in MayCanada · 60 kmHigh 15.8°C · Low 8.4°C · 117 mm rain
- Delta in MayCanada · 65 kmHigh 16.8°C · Low 8.8°C · 69 mm rain
- North Vancouver in MayCanada · 65 kmHigh 16.1°C · Low 8.4°C · 117 mm rain
- Burnaby in MayCanada · 73 kmHigh 16.4°C · Low 8.0°C · 117 mm rain
- New Westminster in MayCanada · 75 kmHigh 16.6°C · Low 7.1°C · 117 mm rain
- Surrey in MayCanada · 81 kmHigh 16.7°C · Low 7.3°C · 85 mm rain
- Coquitlam in MayCanada · 85 kmHigh 17.4°C · Low 7.7°C · 134 mm rain
- Victoria in MayCanada · 92 kmHigh 14.5°C · Low 9.0°C · 38 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 Nanaimo) is explained once on the Nanaimo year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.