More heavy rain is expected to make May one of the wettest on record in the UK.
As lockdown restrictions are lifted, Britons are shivering in colder than average temperatures.
Some 91 per cent of the UK’s expected rain for this month has already fallen – 63.5mm (2.5in).
Our wettest May ever was in 1967, when 131.7mm of rain fell.
Wales has already had its average rainfall this month, while UK temperatures overall have been around 3C below average.
In contrast, May 2020 was the country’s sunniest month ever, with 266 hours of sunshine and only half the average rainfall for May.
By May 12 this year we had only had 34 hours of sunshine, with the jet stream blamed for the miserable May.
A Met Office spokesman said: “Usually we see the jet stream move to the north of the UK this time of year, bringing more settled conditions. But it is slightly to the south, allowing in colder air from the north.”
Met Office forecaster Steven Keates said: “If the second half of the month is similar to the first, you’d probably be challenging a wet May record.”
Last month the UK had its highest level of air frost in 60 years and lowest minimum temperature since 1922. The average minimum was 0.6C in the UK and -0.4C in Scotland.
The rest of May is likely to be unsettled.
Bookie Coral has cut the odds on the wettest summer on record from 5-1 to just 2-1.
But there is better news for June, with AccuWeather predicting sunshine for the most of next month with a 16-day hot streak – with temperatures hitting 20C – from June 15 to July 1.
