Climate averages 1991–2020
Zürich weather
in May.
A mild, wet month: the 5th warmest and the 10th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Zürich: daytime highs average 17.9°C and nights cool to about 8.6°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 10th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 04 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Winterthur (20 km away). In May its highs average 17.6°C, about as warm as Zürich, with 119 mm of rain.
Among the 8 cities listed in Switzerland, Zürich ranks joint 3rd 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; Zürich is 0.4°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 3.5°C to 21.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 144 mm to 143 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
Zürich climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.8°C-1.4°C | -1.4°C | 92 | 12.9 | 8.99 h |
| February | 6.1°C-1.5°C | -1.5°C | 85 | 11.9 | 10.210 h |
| March | 10.3°C1.1°C | 1.1°C | 98 | 14.2 | 11.912 h |
| April | 14.1°C4.2°C | 4.2°C | 106 | 13.9 | 13.614 h |
| May, selected | 17.9°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 144 | 16.0 | 15.115 h |
| June | 21.4°C12.5°C | 12.5°C | 143 | 15.5 | 15.916 h |
| July | 23.3°C14.6°C | 14.6°C | 146 | 15.4 | 15.516 h |
| August | 23.2°C15.0°C | 15.0°C | 147 | 14.4 | 14.314 h |
| September | 18.9°C11.2°C | 11.2°C | 123 | 12.4 | 12.613 h |
| October | 14.6°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 103 | 12.7 | 10.911 h |
| November | 8.8°C2.6°C | 2.6°C | 106 | 13.0 | 9.49 h |
| December | 5.2°C-0.4°C | -0.4°C | 106 | 14.0 | 8.59 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
- Winterthur in MaySwitzerland · 20 kmHigh 17.6°C · Low 8.5°C · 119 mm rain
- Luzern in MaySwitzerland · 40 kmHigh 17.9°C · Low 8.1°C · 188 mm rain
- Konstanz in MayGermany · 57 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 11.2°C · 119 mm rain
- Sankt Gallen in MaySwitzerland · 62 kmHigh 16.1°C · Low 7.0°C · 155 mm rain
- Basel in MaySwitzerland · 76 kmHigh 18.7°C · Low 8.9°C · 129 mm rain
- Villingen-Schwenningen in MayGermany · 77 kmHigh 15.9°C · Low 7.1°C · 133 mm rain
- Vaduz in MayLiechtenstein · 77 kmHigh 18.0°C · Low 8.2°C · 188 mm rain
- Freiburg in MayGermany · 87 kmHigh 18.9°C · Low 9.9°C · 105 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 Zürich) is explained once on the Zürich year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.