Weather in Burnie in May

Shoulder season. May is shoulder season in Burnie — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 16 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

May ranks 8 of 12 in Burnie: past the worst of the year but short of February, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 16 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 14.5 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 4.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 21.1 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 45 mm — roughly 43% of the month's rain in one day.

May is moderately variable: 43 mm in the driest year against 250 mm in the wettest, around an average of 105 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 85%, which at 14.5 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.4 °C cooler than April, with June dropping another 1.8 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in May

9.9 hours of daylight, losing 0.9 hours across the month. That is between Burnie's extremes of 15.1 and 9.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 15.7 °C in May — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 18.3 °C in February and bottoms out at 12.5 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Quiet. Few other visitors, cheaper rooms, and a real chance some seasonal operators are shut.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

May in Burnie versus nearby

If Burnie is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Devonport is a better bet in May — within a degree on temperature, 5 days less rain. Launceston is a better bet in May — within a degree on temperature, 4 days less rain.

So: May is a compromise. February is 33 points better and is what Burnie is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Burnie

See all twelve months in Burnie, or where else to go in May.