Climate averages 1991–2020
Lausanne weather
in May.
A mild, wet month: the 5th warmest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Lausanne: daytime highs average 16.8°C and nights cool to about 9.6°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 120 mm of rain on roughly 14 days, which makes May a wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 59 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Geneva (51 km away). In May its highs average 18.4°C, 1.6°C warmer than Lausanne, with 144 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Lausanne ranks 6th of 8 for the warmest May highs and 3rd of 8 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 8 cities is 17.5°C; Lausanne is 0.7°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 3.6°C to 20.5°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 120 mm to 106 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
Lausanne climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.1°C0.5°C | 0.5°C | 108 | 12.7 | 9.09 h |
| February | 6.1°C0.5°C | 0.5°C | 97 | 11.5 | 10.310 h |
| March | 9.5°C2.8°C | 2.8°C | 94 | 12.3 | 11.912 h |
| April | 13.1°C5.5°C | 5.5°C | 90 | 12.3 | 13.514 h |
| May, selected | 16.8°C9.6°C | 9.6°C | 120 | 13.9 | 15.015 h |
| June | 20.5°C13.7°C | 13.7°C | 106 | 12.8 | 15.816 h |
| July | 22.7°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 117 | 12.2 | 15.415 h |
| August | 22.8°C16.8°C | 16.8°C | 116 | 12.4 | 14.214 h |
| September | 18.8°C13.2°C | 13.2°C | 108 | 11.7 | 12.613 h |
| October | 14.9°C9.5°C | 9.5°C | 101 | 12.4 | 10.911 h |
| November | 9.3°C4.7°C | 4.7°C | 116 | 13.1 | 9.59 h |
| December | 5.8°C1.6°C | 1.6°C | 125 | 13.5 | 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
- Geneva in MaySwitzerland · 51 kmHigh 18.4°C · Low 9.5°C · 144 mm rain
- Bern in MaySwitzerland · 79 kmHigh 16.3°C · Low 7.0°C · 117 mm rain
- Besançon in MayFrance · 94 kmHigh 18.5°C · Low 9.7°C · 110 mm rain
- Basel in MaySwitzerland · 136 kmHigh 18.7°C · Low 8.9°C · 129 mm rain
- Luzern in MaySwitzerland · 141 kmHigh 17.9°C · Low 8.1°C · 188 mm rain
- Mulhouse in MayFrance · 147 kmHigh 18.4°C · Low 9.2°C · 93 mm rain
- Dijon in MayFrance · 152 kmHigh 18.8°C · Low 9.7°C · 89 mm rain
- Villeurbanne in MayFrance · 159 kmHigh 19.9°C · Low 10.4°C · 88 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 Lausanne) is explained once on the Lausanne year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.