Climate averages 1991–2020
Geneva weather
in May.
A mild, wet month: the 5th warmest and the wettest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Geneva: daytime highs average 18.4°C and nights cool to about 9.5°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 144 mm of rain on roughly 16 days, which makes May a wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 57 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Lausanne (51 km away). In May its highs average 16.8°C, 1.6°C cooler than Geneva, with 120 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Geneva ranks 2nd of 8 for the warmest May highs and joint 5th of 8 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 8 cities is 17.5°C; Geneva is 0.9°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 3.6°C to 22.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 144 mm to 123 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
Geneva climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.3°C-0.9°C | -0.9°C | 115 | 12.5 | 9.19 h |
| February | 6.5°C-0.6°C | -0.6°C | 100 | 11.0 | 10.310 h |
| March | 10.8°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 109 | 12.7 | 11.912 h |
| April | 14.7°C5.4°C | 5.4°C | 109 | 13.5 | 13.514 h |
| May, selected | 18.4°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 144 | 15.9 | 14.915 h |
| June | 22.0°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 123 | 14.7 | 15.716 h |
| July | 24.1°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 123 | 12.8 | 15.415 h |
| August | 24.0°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 117 | 12.7 | 14.214 h |
| September | 19.8°C11.6°C | 11.6°C | 109 | 12.2 | 12.613 h |
| October | 15.8°C7.5°C | 7.5°C | 112 | 12.4 | 11.011 h |
| November | 9.7°C2.7°C | 2.7°C | 125 | 13.5 | 9.59 h |
| December | 5.9°C-0.1°C | -0.1°C | 131 | 13.4 | 8.79 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
- Lausanne in MaySwitzerland · 51 kmHigh 16.8°C · Low 9.6°C · 120 mm rain
- Villeurbanne in MayFrance · 109 kmHigh 19.9°C · Low 10.4°C · 88 mm rain
- Lyon in MayFrance · 112 kmHigh 20.2°C · Low 10.4°C · 90 mm rain
- Besançon in MayFrance · 117 kmHigh 18.5°C · Low 9.7°C · 110 mm rain
- Grenoble in MayFrance · 119 kmHigh 20.0°C · Low 10.4°C · 147 mm rain
- Bern in MaySwitzerland · 130 kmHigh 16.3°C · Low 7.0°C · 117 mm rain
- Dijon in MayFrance · 151 kmHigh 18.8°C · Low 9.7°C · 89 mm rain
- Saint-Étienne in MayFrance · 161 kmHigh 18.1°C · Low 8.7°C · 98 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 Geneva) is explained once on the Geneva year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.