Climate averages 1991–2020

Bedford weather
in May.

A mild, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 7th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 16.2°C Daytime mean, May

Average low 8.0°C Night-time mean, May

Rainfall 54 mm 11 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 16 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

May is a mild month in Bedford: daytime highs average 16.2°C and nights cool to about 8.0°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 54 mm of rain on roughly 11 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 7th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 40 min on an average May day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Milton Keynes (22 km away). In May its highs average 15.6°C, 0.6°C cooler than Bedford, with 58 mm of rain.

Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Bedford ranks joint 16th of 143 for the warmest May highs and joint 45th of 143 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 143 cities is 15.2°C; Bedford is 1.0°C warmer than that mean.

From May to June, average highs rise by 2.9°C to 19.1°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 54 mm to 58 mm.

The annual picture

May in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Bedford climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Bedford, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January	7.2°C2.2°C	2.2°C	49	10.8	8.38 h
February	7.8°C2.0°C	2.0°C	40	9.8	9.910 h
March	10.3°C3.2°C	3.2°C	43	10.0	11.812 h
April	13.1°C4.9°C	4.9°C	49	11.0	13.914 h
May, selected	16.2°C8.0°C	8.0°C	54	10.6	15.716 h
June	19.1°C11.0°C	11.0°C	58	10.4	16.717 h
July	21.5°C13.3°C	13.3°C	60	11.4	16.216 h
August	21.3°C13.2°C	13.2°C	61	10.5	14.715 h
September	18.5°C11.0°C	11.0°C	50	8.9	12.713 h
October	14.4°C8.2°C	8.2°C	59	10.6	10.711 h
November	10.1°C4.9°C	4.9°C	56	11.0	8.99 h
December	7.4°C2.7°C	2.7°C	53	11.0	7.88 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

Distance from Bedford

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 limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Bedford) is explained once on the Bedford year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.