A plane coming in to land at a wet Westray Airport
After a dry and sunny first few days, the weather was unsettled with rain or showers and some strong winds at times. The mean temperature for the month was 0.7 °C above the 1971–2000 average. Rainfall was well above normal across most areas and it was particularly wet in the west and north, where well over twice the normal amount was recorded. Some stations here had a record wet May; at Stornoway airport it was the wettest in an 80–year series. Provisionally it was the wettest May generally across Scotland, in a series from 1910. It was a dull month along the west coast, but somewhat sunnier than normal towards the east.
The month began with mostly dry weather and some long spells of sunshine. Despite a cold start to 1st, with the temperature falling to -4.9 °C at Braemar (Aberdeenshire), sunshine lifted temperatures and Kinlochewe (Highland) recorded a high of 21.1 °C. Parts of the east coast were affected by haar on 1st and early on 2nd, otherwise it was also sunny here. The 3rd and 4th continued this fine spell, with frosty nights and warm, sunny days.
Cool, rainy weather spread northwards to all areas on 5th. Showery outbreaks of rain early and late on 6th, with some sunshine during the afternoon. The 7th was mainly cloudy with showery outbreaks of rain, thundery in places. Brighter weather in the north–west lifted the temperature to 22.7 °C at Lusa (Skye). The 8th and 9th had sunshine and thundery showers, giving 32 mm at Braemar on 8th. Rain spread north–eastwards on 10th, followed by sunny spells and occasional showers. The period 11th to 14th was bright with sunny or clear spells and occasional heavy showers, thundery in places.
The 15th and 16th were cloudy with rain at times, heaviest in the north–west, with 49 mm recorded at Resallach (Highland) on 16th. From the 17th to 19th it was bright and showery, the showers more frequent and heaviest in the north and west. It was also windy, reaching strong to gale force in the north. Heavy rain at first on 20th, then brighter with showers, frequent over western areas and some heavy and thundery.
The 21st was dull and wet in most places, through drier in the north–east. The heaviest rain was over the west Highlands, where totals of over 25 mm were widely recorded each day from 19th to 23rd. The 22nd was a bright, blustery day with sunshine and showers. The 23rd started very wet with Eskdalemuir (Dumfries and Galloway) recording 38 mm of rain in the morning, before the rain cleared to blustery showers. Severe gales became widespread causing disruption to transport and power lines, with reports of fallen trees in many areas. At Drumalbin (South Lanarkshire) a gust to 77 m.p.h. was recorded, and one of 84 m.p.h. occurred at Blackford Hill, Edinburgh.
It was bright and breezy on 24th with occasional showers, but more frequent in the north–west. Starting bright in the east on 25th but cloud and rain spread northwards and eastwards to all parts. Cloudy with outbreaks of rain on 26th but brighter showery conditions spread into the west later. The rather cloudy conditions continued on 27th with showers or spells of rain. Rain soon cleared on 28th then it was bright and breezy with scattered showers, isolated in the east. The 29th followed a similar sequence but with gales in the afternoon, Blackford Hill (Edinburgh) recording a gust of 60 m.p.h. Lighter winds and a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers to end the month, although more persistent rain spread into the west during the evening of 31st.
