May 2018 or May 2020 which did you prefer

[Harry233]

Two excellent May’s that both happened pretty recently but if you had to pick what one would you say was better?

For me I would say they were both very close but 2018 just edges it out as being slightly better for myself. 2020 was sunnier but 2018 was both slightly warmer and drier. My memories of each are:

2018: Actaully began quite cold and unsettled under a northerly, it wasn’t until the 5th that the weather started to improve. Come the 6th it was very warm reaching the low 20’s and the sun was shining. It wasn’t to last however and come the 9th things briefly turned cooler and unsettled once again. However it was by the 12th that the weather settled down and it remained like that for the whole month and well into June. Then come the final week the temperature exceeded 20.C every day from the 23rd-31st. Never experienced such prolonged heat in May like it. It was absolutely brilliant. There was virtually no rain in the second half as well.

2020 was another cracking May but I think the north fared a little bit worse off than the south. It was cooler than 2018 although not by much despite being sunnier. Rainfall was close to the same however but it was more spread out and there was only a couple of really hot days unlike 2018 which was generally consistently very warm. I can recall getting a couple of notably cold northerly blasts during this month with then a few days either side of them reaching the high teens. I only recorded 8 days with a high of above 20.C in May 2020, 2018 recorded 12 days above 20.C.

 

share your memories

[cheeky_monkey]

i wasn't in the uk In those years ..but sounds like a similar which was better May 1989 or May 1990 both were a couple of bobby dazzlers

[B87]

May 2020 was better in London. Day temps were slightly higher (though 2018 had a slightly warmer mean), only one day had rain, and it was the sunniest month on record. May 2018 was actually wetter than average in London.

May 2018: av max 20.8c, rainfall 58.4mm on 7 days, sunshine 271 hours

May 2020: av max 21.1c, rainfall 2.0mm on 1 day, sunshine 330 hours

[Scorcher]

I suspect this will vary depending on where you live. In NW England May 2018 was better and more memorable in my view.

Sunshine was roughly the same but 2018 was warmer in these parts. May 2020 wasn't that great here until the last 10 days- in fact the middle of the month was decidedly cool.

Those last 10 days of May 2020 were spectacular though with around 130 hours of sunshine in this area.

May 2018 was more consistently warm through the month here and the sunshine was more evenly spread.

I would absolutely snap your hand off for either month this year!

 

Edited April 18 by Scorcher

[LetItSnow!]

May 2018 was for the true summer lovers as it had the warmth and sunniness as well as explosive convection.  May 2020 was more for the nature walk type who just enjoy bright and comfortable weather. I preferred May 2020 as it seemed far sunnier and pleasant and had some interesting synoptic variation, though the storms of late May 2018 were awe inspiring. 

[Weather Enthusiast91]

Both were stunning Mays, but I will go for 2018 but only because it was such a relief after a disappointing first half of spring that year. I also felt like May 2020 was a bit of a kick in the teeth as it coincided with the lockdown.

[Metwatch]

2020 by far. Though 2018 was nice, I don't have much other memories other than the warm thundery end. Meanwhile 2020 was bone dry, plenty of sunshine and pleasntly warm which made it one of my favourite months of all time. Yes there was a lack of thundery action in 2020, but the following June sorted that out. The lockdown made it even better as well given how quiet everything was.

[Harry233]

 LetItSnow! Nailed it. 2018 was definitely better for higher temperatures

[Harry233]

 Scorcher I do think Scotland, North and west England had a better May 2018, even 2017 was probably slightly better than 2020. The first week for me was quite warm and sunny but nothing spectacular. Temperatures around the high teens, two days I think it just scraped 20.C. Then we had a northerly blast about the 9th which while it did bring quite a lot of sunny and dry weather it was cold and we even had a couple of frosts during that time. It improved slightly by the 18th but turned a little bit more unsettled before the final week came and we had some very warm weather with temperatures for me reaching the mid 20’s, some parts of north west Scotland came close to 30.C during that spell. Let’s hope May 2024 turns out nice

[B87]

 Harry233 2018 had a hotter absolute max, but 2020 had more warm days. 5 days above 25c in 2018 vs 8 days in 2020.

2018 vs 2020

Edited April 18 by B87

[Scorcher]

 LetItSnow! It was the opposite in NW England. May 2018 had a higher average max temp and also recorded the highest temperature of the two months.

[BlueSkies_do_I_see]

It comes down to sunshine (higher the better), wind speed (<10 mph preferably) and rainfall (lower the better), rather than high temperatures. 

So whichever year had more sunshine and less rainfall gets my vote.

By the sound of things 2020, but 2018 was my favourite May-July of all time.

Edited April 18 by BlueSkies_do_I_see

[Sun Chaser]

May 2018 was amazing and thundery but May 2020 has to take it here just because of how crazy it was to see over 300 hours of sunshine in one month. Cloudless on like 2/3 of the days that month!

I'd also like to mention May 2023 which down here was exceptional. Warmer than both, sunnier than 2018, and a bone dry second half in which every day hit 20c.

All three had a handful of poor days in the first half but followed by 2-3 weeks of outstanding weather. 

[danm]

May 2020 by some distance. May 2018 had some very warm and humid weather, but there were also storms around whereas 2020 was pretty much bone dry with loads of sunshine. 

[Addicks Fan 1981]

 danm thing is in may 2018 the weather sustained itself well into the summer and may I say it was one of my most favourite summers of all time.   When the weather got into gear in 2018 it just didn't stop.    

[Summer8906]

Difficult to rate this objectively: May 2018 had no lockdown so therefore has to be the runaway winner. All that sunshine in 2020 was effectively wasted because you couldn't enjoy it.

Otherwise, 2018 had some thundery weather late in the month while 2020 did not so perhaps 2018 from a weather variety perspective.

Edited Saturday at 10:19 by Summer8906

[baddie]

Both tied with each other weather wise, but I would pick May 2018 solely because there was no lockdown and that weather continued through the summer. May 2023 would have joined them if the second half was like SW England in my area (Very sunny from the 13th onwards, with a mixed first 12 days)

Edited Saturday at 12:26 by baddie