MAY offered March winds, April showers, which we lacked during the previous month, and to finish with, a splendid spell of high summer.

Temperatures over the last four days, though nowhere near record-breaking, boosted the mean to well above normal. It is now 13 years since there was a colder than average May.

Earlier in the month, it had felt chilly at times. This was mainly due to the breeze as mercury levels were never far below those expected. The absence of northerlies, typically at their most frequent in spring, helped here.

This also allowed some places by the coast to register their second warmest May in the past three decades, after that of 2003. Elsewhere, only last year’s, and a couple of others, were marginally milder.

Rain, particularly as showers, fell often so that measurable amounts were clocked up on a few more days than usual.

However none were substantial and, with the final six days dry, totals by the end of the month totted up to just three-quarters of the mean.

With March and April being even milder compared to their norms, the spring was widely the warmest since the Seventies, though those of 2007 and 2003 were close.

Rainfall added up to about two-thirds of anticipated accumulations, so it was one of the driest springs, too.

The weather had become changeable towards the end of April and this continued well into May. The vigorous westerly flow was the main feature in this period.

A near-gale can happen occasionally in May but rarely blows for longer than 12 hours. Although not especially strong during this interval, the wind was remarkably persistent.

Eventually, it did calm down on Sunday the 10th as an anticyclone moved northeast across Britain.

By the Friday, a depression approached from the west and over the next seven days, it ambled around Eire and then away northwards. This caused the wind to veer into a south-westerly quarter, still remaining stubbornly brisk, and generated plenty of showers. A few were heavy, briefly, and accompanied by the odd rumble of thunder.

Finally, high pressure built over us from the Azores during the second holiday weekend.

By the Tuesday, the airstream originated in the vicinity of the Canaries and summer arrived.

May statistics: mean max: 16.0C, 61F, (+0.8C, 1.5F); mean min: 7.5C, 45.5F, (+0.9C, 1.5F); highest max: 23.4C, 74F, 29th; lowest min: 0.6C, 33F, 11th; total rainfall: 38mm, 1.5ins, (–7mm, 0.3ins).

Values in brackets show the difference from the 25-year, 1984-2008 means.