Climate averages 1991–2020

York weather
in May.

A cool, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 4th driest of the year.

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

Average high 14.8°C Daytime mean, May

Average low 6.9°C Night-time mean, May

Rainfall 55 mm 12 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 16 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

May is a cool month in York: daytime highs average 14.8°C and nights cool to about 6.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 55 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 56 min on an average May day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Harrogate (30 km away). In May its highs average 14.0°C, 0.8°C cooler than York, with 54 mm of rain.

Among the 143 cities listed in the United Kingdom, York ranks joint 103rd of 143 for the warmest May highs and joint 52nd of 143 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 143 cities is 15.2°C; York is 0.3°C cooler than that mean.

From May to June, average highs rise by 2.7°C to 17.6°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 55 mm to 71 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

York climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for York, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January	6.5°C1.5°C	1.5°C	54	11.8	8.08 h
February	7.3°C1.3°C	1.3°C	46	10.1	9.710 h
March	9.4°C2.4°C	2.4°C	46	10.7	11.812 h
April	12.0°C4.0°C	4.0°C	58	11.5	14.014 h
May, selected	14.8°C6.9°C	6.9°C	55	11.5	15.916 h
June	17.6°C9.8°C	9.8°C	71	12.2	17.017 h
July	19.9°C12.1°C	12.1°C	66	11.9	16.617 h
August	19.6°C12.0°C	12.0°C	72	11.5	14.915 h
September	17.0°C9.9°C	9.9°C	57	10.0	12.813 h
October	13.3°C7.2°C	7.2°C	61	11.5	10.611 h
November	9.3°C4.0°C	4.0°C	59	11.2	8.69 h
December	6.6°C1.7°C	1.7°C	58	11.1	7.57 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 York

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 York) is explained once on the York year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.