Climate averages 1991–2020
Federal Way weather
in May.
A mild, moderately wet month: the 5th warmest and the 5th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a mild month in Federal Way: daytime highs average 16.7°C and nights cool to about 7.7°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 78 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 5th 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 Auburn (7 km away). In May its highs average 17.3°C, 0.6°C warmer than Federal Way, with 78 mm of rain.
Among the 498 cities listed in the United States, Federal Way ranks joint 487th of 498 for the warmest May highs and joint 207th of 498 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 498 cities is 23.8°C; Federal Way is 7.1°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 2.6°C to 19.2°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 78 mm to 58 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
Federal Way climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.8°C1.1°C | 1.1°C | 190 | 18.2 | 8.99 h |
| February | 8.1°C0.9°C | 0.9°C | 135 | 15.0 | 10.210 h |
| March | 10.3°C2.2°C | 2.2°C | 152 | 17.8 | 11.912 h |
| April | 12.9°C4.2°C | 4.2°C | 118 | 15.8 | 13.614 h |
| May, selected | 16.7°C7.7°C | 7.7°C | 78 | 11.9 | 15.115 h |
| June | 19.2°C10.6°C | 10.6°C | 58 | 9.2 | 15.916 h |
| July | 23.4°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 21 | 4.1 | 15.516 h |
| August | 23.7°C13.6°C | 13.6°C | 28 | 4.5 | 14.314 h |
| September | 20.3°C11.2°C | 11.2°C | 64 | 8.1 | 12.613 h |
| October | 14.3°C7.2°C | 7.2°C | 131 | 13.7 | 10.911 h |
| November | 9.2°C3.5°C | 3.5°C | 206 | 18.1 | 9.49 h |
| December | 6.2°C1.1°C | 1.1°C | 196 | 17.8 | 8.69 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
- Auburn in MayUnited States · 7 kmHigh 17.3°C · Low 8.0°C · 78 mm rain
- Kent in MayUnited States · 9 kmHigh 17.6°C · Low 8.4°C · 76 mm rain
- Tacoma in MayUnited States · 13 kmHigh 17.2°C · Low 8.4°C · 61 mm rain
- Renton in MayUnited States · 19 kmHigh 17.6°C · Low 8.4°C · 76 mm rain
- Seattle in MayUnited States · 32 kmHigh 17.1°C · Low 8.2°C · 76 mm rain
- Bellevue in MayUnited States · 33 kmHigh 17.3°C · Low 8.1°C · 76 mm rain
- Kirkland in MayUnited States · 41 kmHigh 16.8°C · Low 7.9°C · 80 mm rain
- Everett in MayUnited States · 73 kmHigh 16.7°C · Low 8.1°C · 89 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 Federal Way) is explained once on the Federal Way year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Auburn lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.