Weather in Kingston upon Hull in May

A good month. May is a solid month to be in Kingston upon Hull. Highs average 16.1 °C, lows 7 °C, and rain falls on 12 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

May ranks 5 of 12 in Kingston upon Hull: past the worst of the year but short of September, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 12 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 16.1 °C days and 7 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 24.8 °C and the coldest night fell to 0.1 °C.

May is moderately variable: 13 mm in the driest year against 115 mm in the wettest, around an average of 57 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 80%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 3 °C warmer than April, and June adds another 2.8 °C. Late in the month feels noticeably different from the start of it, which is worth knowing if the trip is short.

Daylight in May

15.9 hours of daylight, gaining 1.6 hours across the month. That is between Kingston upon Hull's extremes of 17 and 7.5 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 9.5 °C in May — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 15.8 °C in August and bottoms out at 6.5 °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

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

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

May in Kingston upon Hull versus nearby

If Kingston upon Hull is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Manchester is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days more rain. Birmingham is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: May works, with September the better month by 11 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Kingston upon Hull

See all twelve months in Kingston upon Hull, or where else to go in May.