Weather in New Orleans in May

A good month. May is a solid month to be in New Orleans. Highs average 27.5 °C, lows 21.9 °C, and rain falls on 10 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

May ranks 5 of 12 in New Orleans: past the worst of the year but short of November, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 10 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 5.6 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 33.8 °C and the coldest night fell to 10 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 77 mm — roughly 65% of the month's rain in one day.

May is moderately variable: 21 mm in the driest year against 235 mm in the wettest, around an average of 119 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 76%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How May sits in the year

The month is on the way up: 3.4 °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. Rain is the thing that moves: June brings 9 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in May

May is at or near the longest days of New Orleans's year: 13.6 hours of daylight, gaining 0.6 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 22.3 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights.

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 New Orleans versus nearby

If New Orleans is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Baton Rouge is the weaker option in May — 2.6 °C warmer, 1 day more rain. Mobile is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: May works, with November the better month by 7 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in New Orleans

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