Climate averages 1991–2020
Bilbao weather
in May.
A mild, moderately wet month: the 6th warmest and the 5th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Bilbao: daytime highs average 17.8°C and nights cool to about 12.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 6th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 84 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 5th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 39 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Barakaldo (6 km away). In May its highs average 18.0°C, about as warm as Bilbao, with 84 mm of rain.
Among the 93 cities listed in Spain, Bilbao ranks joint 86th of 93 for the warmest May highs and joint 83rd of 93 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 93 cities is 21.8°C; Bilbao is 4.0°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.5°C to 20.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 84 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
Bilbao climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 11.9°C7.2°C | 7.2°C | 112 | 14.8 | 9.49 h |
| February | 12.1°C6.9°C | 6.9°C | 101 | 13.8 | 10.510 h |
| March | 14.0°C8.2°C | 8.2°C | 98 | 13.5 | 11.912 h |
| April | 15.1°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 97 | 15.2 | 13.413 h |
| May, selected | 17.8°C12.1°C | 12.1°C | 84 | 14.2 | 14.715 h |
| June | 20.3°C14.9°C | 14.9°C | 69 | 11.4 | 15.315 h |
| July | 22.3°C16.9°C | 16.9°C | 60 | 10.4 | 15.015 h |
| August | 23.2°C17.6°C | 17.6°C | 55 | 10.3 | 14.014 h |
| September | 21.5°C15.9°C | 15.9°C | 65 | 11.8 | 12.513 h |
| October | 19.1°C13.7°C | 13.7°C | 97 | 13.9 | 11.111 h |
| November | 14.8°C10.2°C | 10.2°C | 135 | 15.6 | 9.810 h |
| December | 12.6°C8.1°C | 8.1°C | 105 | 14.4 | 9.09 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
- Barakaldo in MaySpain · 6 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 12.0°C · 84 mm rain
- Gasteiz / Vitoria in MaySpain · 50 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 8.5°C · 71 mm rain
- Santander in MaySpain · 75 kmHigh 19.3°C · Low 11.6°C · 86 mm rain
- Donostia / San Sebastián in MaySpain · 77 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 12.0°C · 117 mm rain
- Logroño in MaySpain · 97 kmHigh 19.4°C · Low 9.3°C · 59 mm rain
- Pamplona in MaySpain · 115 kmHigh 18.7°C · Low 9.2°C · 69 mm rain
- Burgos in MaySpain · 120 kmHigh 17.5°C · Low 7.3°C · 64 mm rain
- Palencia in MaySpain · 191 kmHigh 19.9°C · Low 8.3°C · 51 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 Bilbao) is explained once on the Bilbao year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Barakaldo lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.