By Paul Homewood

 

 

There has been some misinformation, apparently propagated by the Met Office, about the warm weather last month:

 

Britain has enjoyed its sunniest and warmest May since records began in 1929, provisional figures show, despite the week of torrential rain, thunderstorms and flash flooding that has brought travel chaos to Britain….

 

A total of 245.3 hours of sunshine were measured across the country last month, according to the Met Office, making it the sunniest while it has also been the warmest May since records began in 1910.

The average daytime maximum temperature was 62.6F (17.0C), just beating the previous all-time high of 62.4F (16.9C) set in May 1992.

Despite thunderstorms bringing showers and flash floods to parts of the country at the end of the month, rainfall across the UK in May was less than two-thirds (64 per cent) of the level expected.

Rainfall in England was 72 per cent of the long-term average for the month, while in Wales it was 62 per cent and in Scotland just 55 per cent. Northern Ireland’s rainfall was 80 per cent of the average.

Tim Legg, of the Met Office National Climate Information Centre, said: ‘Increased sunshine during the month has helped to keep daytime temperatures high, leading to it provisionally being the warmest May since records began in 1910. It is also likely to be the sunniest May since 1929 too.’ 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5794261/Britons-battle-flash-floods-power-cuts-travel-chaos.html

 

I heard exactly the same claim on the radio yesterday as well, so it is not the Mail that has misinterpreted.

So, for the record, here are the facts:

The mean Central England Temperature was 13.2C last month. Tim Legg claims they only have records going back to 1910, which is strange because Legg himself maintains the CET, which has data back to 1659.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_mean.html

 

This makes the month only the 18th warmest on record, with the hottest May occurring in 1833:

 

 https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/index.html

 

A closer look at the warmest months reveals nothing out of the ordinary about last month.

 

 

Daytime temperatures have been relatively higher, as Legg notes. But even these were not as high as in 1992:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/cet_info_max.html

 

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/mly_cet_max_sort.txt

 

Given how much effort goes into producing the CET, it is remarkable how often the Met Office ignore it when it suits them.