Climate averages 1991–2020
Sendai weather
in May.
A mild, wet month: the 5th warmest and the 7th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Sendai: daytime highs average 18.3°C and nights cool to about 10.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 103 mm of rain on roughly 11 days, which makes May a wet month (the 7th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 13 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Natori-shi (11 km away). In May its highs average 18.0°C, about as warm as Sendai, with 113 mm of rain.
Among the 303 cities listed in Japan, Sendai ranks joint 284th of 303 for the warmest May highs and 21st of 303 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 303 cities is 21.3°C; Sendai is 3.0°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.9°C to 21.2°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 103 mm to 129 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
Sendai climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.1°C-2.6°C | -2.6°C | 63 | 11.1 | 9.810 h |
| February | 4.9°C-2.9°C | -2.9°C | 49 | 9.3 | 10.711 h |
| March | 8.4°C-0.1°C | -0.1°C | 87 | 11.6 | 11.912 h |
| April | 13.8°C4.7°C | 4.7°C | 94 | 11.2 | 13.213 h |
| May, selected | 18.3°C10.3°C | 10.3°C | 103 | 11.4 | 14.214 h |
| June | 21.2°C15.1°C | 15.1°C | 129 | 13.4 | 14.815 h |
| July | 24.7°C19.4°C | 19.4°C | 187 | 17.3 | 14.515 h |
| August | 26.2°C21.0°C | 21.0°C | 169 | 16.1 | 13.614 h |
| September | 23.3°C17.7°C | 17.7°C | 167 | 14.3 | 12.512 h |
| October | 18.2°C11.6°C | 11.6°C | 141 | 11.0 | 11.211 h |
| November | 12.6°C5.2°C | 5.2°C | 63 | 9.3 | 10.110 h |
| December | 6.9°C0.3°C | 0.3°C | 58 | 11.0 | 9.610 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
- Natori-shi in MayJapan · 11 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 11.0°C · 113 mm rain
- Ōsaki in MayJapan · 37 kmHigh 19.6°C · Low 9.8°C · 109 mm rain
- Ishinomaki in MayJapan · 41 kmHigh 17.0°C · Low 11.5°C · 100 mm rain
- Yamagata in MayJapan · 44 kmHigh 19.2°C · Low 8.4°C · 91 mm rain
- Tome in MayJapan · 55 kmHigh 19.4°C · Low 10.0°C · 98 mm rain
- Fukushima in MayJapan · 67 kmHigh 20.6°C · Low 10.0°C · 106 mm rain
- Ichinoseki in MayJapan · 76 kmHigh 19.3°C · Low 9.2°C · 104 mm rain
- Yonezawa in MayJapan · 77 kmHigh 20.0°C · Low 9.8°C · 116 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 Sendai) is explained once on the Sendai year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.