May 2008
Jacob's Ladder Beach
A cooling stroll along Jacob's Ladder Beach, Sidmouth on a hot day in early May.
Summary for  May 2008
Mean Max: 19.7ºC (+3.7ºC)
Mean Min: 10.2ºC (+2.9ºC)
Mean: 14.9ºC (+3.3ºC)
     
High Max: 27.9ºC 11th
Low Max: 13.3ºC 16th
High Min: 14.4ºC 4th
Low Min: 4.8ºC 1st
Mean Grass Min: 8.5ºC  
Grass Min: 1.7ºC 1st
     
Rain Total (gauge): 80.1 mm (141%)
Rain Total (tipping bucket): 70.0 mm (123%)
Rain Days >0.2 mm: 15 Days  
Rain Days >1.0 mm: 10 Days  
Max 24 hrs: 17.0 mm 17th
Days without any rain: 13  
     
Air Frost: 0 Days  
Ground Frost: 0 Days  
Snow Falling: 0 Days  
Snow (50%) @ 9am: 0 Days  
Thunder Heard: 3 Days  
Hail <5 mm: 0 Days  
Hail >5 mm: 1 Days  
Fog @ 9am: 0 Days  
     
Total Monthly Sunshine: 199h:06m  
Total Monthly Sunshine: 198.8 Hours  
Most Sunshine in a Day: 13h:49m 6th
Average Daily Sunshine: 06h:25m  
Sunless Days: 1 Days  
Cloudless Days: 6 Days  
Total Possible Sunshine: 478h:39m  
Percentage of Total Sun: 42%  
     
Mean Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 14.9ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 10.2ºC 1st
Max Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 18.1ºC 11th
Mean Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 12.4ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 9.8ºC 2nd
Max Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 13.5ºC 15th
     
Mean 10 Min Wind >39 mph: 0.0 Days  
N: 3.84 Days  
NE: 10.25 Days  
E: 7.59 Days  
SE: 3.39 Days  
S: 1.72 Days  
SW: 1.08 Days  
W: 0.79 Days  
NW: 1.38 Days  
Calm: 3.46 Days  
Mean Wind: 4 mph  
Max Gust: 39 mph 26th
     
Mean Cloud Cover: 66%  
Mean RH @ 9am: 77%  
Rain Duration >0.1mm/hour: 44.3 Hours  
Frost Duration: 0.0 Hours  
Max Frost Duration in a Day: 0.0 Hours  
     
Mean Sea Temperature: 13.1ºC  
Normal for Month:    
Max Sea Temperature: 15.6ºC 31st
Min Sea Temperature: 11.3ºC 1st
     
Mean Pressure @ 9am: 1013.9 hPa (-1.9 hPa)
Mean Pressure: 1013.5 hPa (-2.3 hPa)
Max Pressure: 1024.9 hPa 5th
Min Pressure: 997.9 hPa 1st
     
Max Dewpoint: 15.3ºC 11th
Min Dewpoint: 1.7ºC 21st
Mean Dewpoint: 8.9ºC  
     
Max Humidity: 92% 29th
Min Humidity: 37% 12th
Mean Humidity: 70% (-7)

 
A warm, wet and sunny month.

The first two weeks were very warm and quite dry; cooler mid-month then warmer again.

An exceptionally hot day for early/mid May on the 11th with 27.9°C. This was hotter than any day during the whole of 2007 except one day (Aug 25th with 29.4°C).
Rainfall was well above average though there was a drier spell for the first two weeks until the 15th. Most of the rainfall for the month fell in the last week of the month.
There were no air or grass frosts.
This was a sunny month, especially from the 6th to the 14th which had a daily average of 10.1 hours of sunshine for that period.
Soil temperatures remained below normal throughout.
Winds dominated from the NE. There were two notably windy (for May) days on the 8th & 26th.
.
Sea temperatures rose during the warm days at the beginning of the month and ended up being above normal.
Mean pressure was was -2.3 hPa below normal and indicative of the generally unsettled nature of this month.
Dewpoints were often quite high during the latter part of the month after a dry start.
With a mean relative humidity of 70%, this was 7 percentage points below normal.
Weather Data for Otter Valley, Devon.  May 2008  
  Temp (oC) Hum (RH%) Dewpoint (oC) Wind (mph) Rain Pressure (hPa) Grass Sun  
  Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Max Ave Run mm Min Max Ave Min Hours Observations
1 4.8 14.9 9.9 65 85 75 2.3 7.6 5.0 17 2.5 60 9.2 998 1011 1005 1.7 4.4 Sunny ints, thunderstorm pm
2 5.0 16.4 10.7 62 85 74 2.3 9.4 5.9 20 4.1 99 0.8 1012 1021 1016 1.8 10.5 Sunny ints am, sunny pm
3 9.2 19.7 14.5 56 84 70 6.1 10.1 8.1 29 8.2 196 0.0 1018 1022 1020 6.7 2.3 Brief sunny ints all day
4 14.4 20.1 17.3 64 80 72 8.8 13.3 11.1 29 5.8 139 0.0 1017 1022 1019 11.1 2.8 Hazy sunny ints all day
5 11.1 18.3 14.7 68 83 76 7.6 12.4 10.0 13 2.0 49 0.2 1022 1025 1023 10.6 2.0 Sunny ints am, light rain pm
6 11.7 23.0 17.4 45 83 64 6.8 11.8 9.3 24 6.1 146 0.0 1020 1024 1022 9.3 13.8 Sunny all day
7 9.1 25.4 17.3 41 83 62 5.3 12.2 8.8 20 3.6 85 0.0 1015 1020 1018 7.0 13.7 Sunny all day
8 13.6 23.6 18.6 42 78 60 8.1 11.3 9.7 35 7.7 184 0.8 1010 1016 1013 10.3 9.6 Sunny am, cloudy pm
9 13.1 22.2 17.7 61 84 73 9.6 14.4 12.0 11 1.8 44 1.8 1010 1013 1011 13.1 2.7 Cloudy am then hazy sun
10 14.1 23.4 18.8 48 82 65 10.2 12.9 11.6 14 3.1 75 0.2 1013 1019 1016 13.2 8.5 Hazy sunshine all day
11 10.4 27.9 19.2 41 83 62 6.9 15.3 11.1 13 1.8 44 0.4 1017 1019 1018 9.7 10.1 Sunny all day
12 9.6 26.6 18.1 37 82 60 6.1 13.2 9.7 14 2.4 57 0.0 1016 1018 1017 8.3 11.7 Sunny all day
13 12.4 23.6 18.0 48 75 62 7.4 13.5 10.5 22 6.3 152 0.0 1015 1018 1016 10.1 12.5 Sunny all day, hazy
14 10.2 22.2 16.2 55 80 68 6.4 12.8 9.6 20 6.5 157 0.0 1010 1016 1013 7.6 8.5 Sunny ints am, thunder pm
15 9.4 15.7 12.6 73 84 79 6.3 10.7 8.5 20 4.7 113 11.2 1009 1011 1010 10.3 0.1 Rain am, then cloudy
16 11.2 13.3 12.3 82 84 83 7.8 10.0 8.9 13 2.7 65 0.2 1007 1010 1008 11.5 0.0 Cloudy all day
17 11.1 14.4 12.8 74 84 79 7.8 9.9 8.9 13 2.2 52 3.4 1006 1009 1008 11.1 1.2 Brief sunny ints
18 9.2 17.8 13.5 52 84 68 6.0 8.8 7.4 20 5.0 120 3.8 1009 1015 1012 7.8 10.4 Sunny intervals all day
19 5.7 15.6 10.7 44 63 54 2.6 4.4 3.5 17 3.7 88 0.0 1015 1018 1017 2.2 7.5 Sunny intervals all day
20 7.1 16.5 11.8 43 76 60 2.3 4.9 3.6 19 4.2 101 0.0 1017 1018 1018 4.1 11.2 Sunny ints am, sunny pm
21 5.7 18.9 12.3 46 83 65 1.7 9.4 5.6 22 5.0 119 0.0 1013 1018 1015 2.5 9.4 Misty am, then sunny
22 10.4 18.8 14.6 63 82 73 5.6 11.3 8.5 22 4.3 104 0.4 1011 1013 1012 6.6 4.7 Rain am, then sunny
23 10.2 21.8 16.0 53 85 69 6.4 11.1 8.8 18 3.9 93 0.0 1009 1013 1011 6.6 8.5 Sunny intervals all day
24 12.1 20.6 16.4 52 73 63 5.4 11.5 8.5 28 8.0 191 0.0 1007 1009 1008 9.6 4.1 Sunny am, cloudy pm
25 10.1 18.7 14.4 60 89 75 6.2 11.9 9.1 33 7.6 182 3.2 1006 1012 1009 8.8 5.9 Misty am then sunny
26 11.3 15.3 13.3 75 89 82 8.4 11.1 9.8 39 9.8 236 9.8 1004 1012 1008 11.1 0.1 Rain am, cloudy pm
27 10.1 18.8 14.5 63 91 77 7.6 12.8 10.2 26 5.4 131 5.2 1008 1010 1009 10.2 4.8 Misty, cloudy am, sunny pm
28 12.1 14.3 13.2 76 90 83 8.8 12.2 10.5 15 3.4 83 17.0 1001 1009 1005 11.6 1.1 Rain all day, sunny evening
29 7.7 17.2 12.5 73 92 83 4.9 13.5 9.2 17 1.7 42 0.6 1010 1013 1011 7.5 4.5 Sunny am, cloudy pm
30 12.4 22.4 17.4 57 91 74 10.0 13.9 12.0 12 1.7 41 1.8 1012 1015 1013 11.4 6.6 Sunny ints all day
31 10.3 23.1 16.7 53 90 72 7.9 15.1 11.5 11 1.4 34 0.0 1015 1017 1016 10.8 6.0 Sunny ints all day
10.2 19.7 14.9 57 83 70 6.4 11.4 8.9 20 4.4 3277 70.0 1011 1016 1013 8.5 198.8  
 
Graphs for May 2008
Figure 1. Temperature and Rainfall for May 2008.
Figure 2. Sunshine, air pressure and mean wind speed for May 2008.
Figure 3. Wind direction for May 2008.
Figure 4. Soil & sea surface temperature (SST) for Lyme Bay for May 2008.
Figure 5. Wind run, maximum gusts and mean pressure for May 2008.