May 2025: It was the
warmest on record since continuous data started 135 years ago. With an
average temperature of 16.0°C it was 2.3°C above the 30 year average for
Bristol. The previous warmest May was in 1998 when the average temperature
was 15.9°C. Average maximum temperatures were 3.2°C above the 30 year
average, whilst average minimum temperatures were up by 1.6°C.
For the 4th consecutive month, rainfall was bellow average. At 26.7 mm it
was only 42.8% of the 30 year average. It was the joint 19th driest month in
145 years of continuous data starting in 1881 and was the driest May since
2020. With 60.9% of the maximum sunshine recorded in May 2025, it was the
third sunniest since data started in 2005. The sunniest was 2020 when the
maximum sunshine percentage reached 74.2. Wind direction for the month was
predominantly from a North Easterly direction.
The highest daily maximum temperature of 30.6°C on the 1st was the highest
recorded for May since data started in 1938. The previous warmest May
day was in 2020 when 29.2°C was recorded..
Spring 2025: The
spring of 2025 was warmest with respect to the average temperature since the
data started for the city in 1891. With a mean temperature of 13.0°C it was
2.3°C above the 1990-2020 average. The spring rainfall of 2025 was the 5th
driest out of 144 years of data with a total of 64.0 mm. This was 36% of the
30 year average of 179.5 mm. The direst spring was 1990 when only 50.2 mm
was recorded..
Annual 2024: The annual rainfall for Bristol in 2024
was 1153.4 mm this makes it the 10th wettest year since this data started in
1853. The wettest year was 2012 with 1315.4 mm. The 30 year average for the
city is 913.8 mm so 2024 represents 126% of the average. The annual average
temperature for 2024 was 12.4°C. That made it the equal 4th warmest with
2020, and 0.8°C above the 30 year average of 11.6°C. Continuous average
temperatures for Bristol started in 1891. It was the dullest year from
records starting in 2005 with only 37% of the maximum sunshine recorded.
To
view a full report of the Bristol Annual Weather report 2023 and a discussion
of trends etc click here. This is a Word created .doc
document which is produced annually for a Bristol Naturalist Society
publication. Please acknowledge the source if quoting any of the contents.
Thank you.
The 2024 Annual
summary is here: http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2024annual.htm
For the full monthly summary please go here: http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2025
May.htm
The
Meteorological site is situated in an urban housing area approximately one
mile to the south of the Centre of Bristol.
This area is in a district called Totterdown.
Statistical correlations with the Bristol
Meteorological Office site, that was
less than two miles to the North and was
situated on top of a City Centre office block, were generally good with
rainfall and barometric data particularly close.
The site of the station is approximately 34 metres above sea level with the
manual instruments mounted in a Stevenson screen. The screen is sited
centrally in a small concreted garden area. A Snowdon
rain gauge is mounted correctly in the ground but does not have the full open
space required around it. A Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus automatic weather station (AWS) was
added in May 2005 and this is mounted 4 feet above a concrete shelter. The wind
data is gathered automatically from a Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus anemometer which is sited 3.3 metres (10 feet) above the
house top.
Manual observations are still taken at approximately 09:00 hours GMT every
day for rainfall and cloud cover. Rainfall manually recorded in the Snowdon rain gauge is entered for the previous day. The
wind data is constantly logged and automatically reset at 24:00 hours GMT
every day (in the summer BST -1 hour. The Davis rainfall tipping bucket was recalibrated in November 2005 and is now
consistently under 3% under recording (an improvement from installation in
May 2005 when 10% was more
typically the norm).
Since the arrival of the Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus equipment in May 2005 temperatures, humidity and barometric
pressure are recorded from the new equipment. These figures will be more
accurate and will be taken at exactly 09:00 GMT (in the summer BST -1 hour)
as the data is now logged to a computer.
By default the Davis
equipment records every parameter for the 24 hour period 00:00 to 23:59 BST
or GMT. Data analysis will enable manual data extraction of temperatures and
rainfall to 09:00 GMT (adjusted in the summer). Due to the 0.2 mm (tipping
bucket) measurements of precipitation recorded by the Davis equipment the
Snowdon rain gauge will still be used due to its greater accuracy (see
above).