Climate averages 1991–2020
Rotterdam weather
in May.
A mild, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 4th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Rotterdam: daytime highs average 17.0°C and nights cool to about 9.2°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 61 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 38 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Schiedam (6 km away). In May its highs average 16.9°C, about as warm as Rotterdam, with 61 mm of rain.
Among the 44 cities listed in the Netherlands, Rotterdam ranks joint 23rd of 44 for the warmest May highs and joint 21st of 44 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 44 cities is 16.9°C; Rotterdam is 0.1°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.6°C to 19.6°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 61 mm to 64 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
Rotterdam climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.9°C1.6°C | 1.6°C | 62 | 12.2 | 8.38 h |
| February | 6.8°C1.5°C | 1.5°C | 52 | 10.9 | 9.910 h |
| March | 9.8°C3.2°C | 3.2°C | 53 | 11.3 | 11.812 h |
| April | 13.6°C5.6°C | 5.6°C | 48 | 10.9 | 13.914 h |
| May, selected | 17.0°C9.2°C | 9.2°C | 61 | 11.5 | 15.616 h |
| June | 19.6°C12.1°C | 12.1°C | 64 | 11.0 | 16.617 h |
| July | 21.7°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 79 | 13.4 | 16.216 h |
| August | 21.6°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 79 | 13.0 | 14.715 h |
| September | 18.5°C12.0°C | 12.0°C | 69 | 12.1 | 12.713 h |
| October | 14.3°C8.7°C | 8.7°C | 68 | 12.6 | 10.711 h |
| November | 9.7°C5.2°C | 5.2°C | 66 | 13.5 | 8.99 h |
| December | 6.4°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 71 | 13.5 | 7.98 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
- Schiedam in MayThe Netherlands · 6 kmHigh 16.9°C · Low 9.4°C · 61 mm rain
- Vlaardingen in MayThe Netherlands · 9 kmHigh 16.6°C · Low 9.4°C · 57 mm rain
- Delft in MayThe Netherlands · 13 kmHigh 16.4°C · Low 9.4°C · 57 mm rain
- Spijkenisse in MayThe Netherlands · 13 kmHigh 16.9°C · Low 9.2°C · 59 mm rain
- Zoetermeer in MayThe Netherlands · 15 kmHigh 16.4°C · Low 9.4°C · 61 mm rain
- Dordrecht in MayThe Netherlands · 18 kmHigh 17.4°C · Low 9.2°C · 60 mm rain
- Gouda in MayThe Netherlands · 19 kmHigh 16.9°C · Low 9.3°C · 65 mm rain
- The Hague in MayThe Netherlands · 21 kmHigh 15.7°C · Low 9.6°C · 57 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 Rotterdam) is explained once on the Rotterdam year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Zoetermeer and Schiedam lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.