Climate averages 1991–2020
Bolton weather
in May.
A cool, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 2nd driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a cool month in Bolton: daytime highs average 14.5°C and nights cool to about 6.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 67 mm of rain on roughly 13 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 2nd driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 53 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Wigan (14 km away). In May its highs average 14.9°C, about as warm as Bolton, with 66 mm of rain.
Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, Bolton ranks joint 110th of 143 for the warmest May highs and joint 117th of 143 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 143 cities is 15.2°C; Bolton is 0.7°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.4°C to 16.9°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 67 mm to 81 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
Bolton climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.2°C1.7°C | 1.7°C | 83 | 15.1 | 8.18 h |
| February | 6.8°C1.4°C | 1.4°C | 72 | 13.3 | 9.810 h |
| March | 8.9°C2.4°C | 2.4°C | 70 | 13.0 | 11.812 h |
| April | 11.5°C4.0°C | 4.0°C | 65 | 12.7 | 14.014 h |
| May, selected | 14.5°C6.9°C | 6.9°C | 67 | 12.7 | 15.916 h |
| June | 16.9°C9.9°C | 9.9°C | 81 | 13.8 | 17.017 h |
| July | 18.6°C11.8°C | 11.8°C | 82 | 14.8 | 16.516 h |
| August | 18.2°C11.8°C | 11.8°C | 89 | 15.1 | 14.815 h |
| September | 16.1°C9.8°C | 9.8°C | 77 | 12.7 | 12.813 h |
| October | 12.7°C7.3°C | 7.3°C | 91 | 14.7 | 10.611 h |
| November | 8.9°C4.3°C | 4.3°C | 91 | 16.1 | 8.79 h |
| December | 6.5°C2.1°C | 2.1°C | 99 | 15.5 | 7.68 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
- Wigan in MayUnited Kingdom · 14 kmHigh 14.9°C · Low 7.6°C · 66 mm rain
- Salford in MayUnited Kingdom · 14 kmHigh 15.0°C · Low 7.1°C · 69 mm rain
- Manchester in MayUnited Kingdom · 17 kmHigh 15.0°C · Low 7.2°C · 69 mm rain
- Rochdale in MayUnited Kingdom · 19 kmHigh 14.5°C · Low 6.8°C · 69 mm rain
- Blackburn in MayUnited Kingdom · 19 kmHigh 14.2°C · Low 6.7°C · 79 mm rain
- Oldham in MayUnited Kingdom · 21 kmHigh 14.1°C · Low 6.5°C · 68 mm rain
- Warrington in MayUnited Kingdom · 23 kmHigh 15.1°C · Low 7.6°C · 67 mm rain
- St Helens in MayUnited Kingdom · 25 kmHigh 14.8°C · Low 7.8°C · 66 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 Bolton) is explained once on the Bolton year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Warrington lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.