Weather in Malaga – May 2017

The average maximum temperature during May 2017 in Malaga was 24.5 Celsius (76F), and that was 0.7 Celsius (1F) above normal for the time of year. The average minimum temperature was 16.1 Celsius (61F), and that was 0.1 Celsius (0.2F) below the normal May value.

The highest temperature recorded during the month was  30.1 Celsius (86F) on the 18th, and perhaps surprisingly, the only other maximum above 26 Celsius (79F) was the 28.2 Celsius (83F) recorded on the 29th. On most days (24) maxima were between 23 and 26 Celsius (73-79F), and remarkably, on 5 of the last 8 days of May the temperature peaked at precisely 25.4 Celsius (78F). There were no particularly cool days during the month, with the coolest days all confined to the first half of May. On the 2nd, the temperature only reached 21.1 Celsius (70F), with the following day only 0.1 Celsius (o.2F) less cool..

There were several mild nights during May, and as is usually the case, most of these occurred during the second half of the month. On the 28th a minimum of 20.3 Celsius (68F) was measured, with 19.4 Celsius (67F) recorded on the 30th. There were 11 other nights when the temperature remained above 17 Celsius (63F), but only 1 of these milder nights occurred before the 19th. On the 10th a low of 17.2 Celsius (63F) was logged. There were no especially cool nights, although on 9 occasions minima were below 15 Celsius (59F). Only 1 of these cooler nights occurred after mid month, the 17th, when 14.9 Celsius (59F) was measured. The early part of the month had the coolest nights with 7 of the opening 9 nights of May having minima below 15 Celsius (59F). However, only 2 of these cooler nights had minimum temperatures below 13 Celsius (55F). On the 4th a low of 12.3 Celsius (54F) was recorded, but the previous night was cooler with a reading of 11.8 Celsius (53F).

The sea temperature, around 17 or 18 Celsius (63-64F) at the beginning of the month, slowly rose to 19 or 20 Celsius (66-68F) by the end of May.

There were 24.4  millimetres (0.96 ins.) of rain during May, and that was 13% above average. However, there were only 2 days with rain, and that was 2 days below the average. Showery rain on the 11th produced 1.5 millimetres (0.06 ins.) of rain,  with heavy rain on the morning of the 12th producing the remainder of the month’s total.

Occasional thunder and lightning occurred  for nearly an hour on the morning of the 12th in association with the heavier rain.

The wind  through May mainly followed a typical late spring pattern with northwesterly land breezes for a while during the mornings, followed by southeasterly sea breezes, these usually dying away after sunset. On the warmer days,  the land breezes persisted longer, but overall breezes were generally lighter than normal, and only the warmest day of the month, the 18th, recorded a gust above 20 knots (23 mph) and then only 21 knots (24 mph). There were a few afternoons when brisk southwesterly winds blew along the shoreline and lifted the sand, making it unpleasant for those sunbathing.

There was no fog observed in west Malaga  during May, although visibility was significantly reduced under low cloud cover early on both the 23rd and 27th.

Reporting Station	Highest Temp	Lowest Temp	Rain Total (mm)	Wettest	Rain days
Malaga Airport	31.3	11.0	29	29	1
Granada Airport	37.0	6.6	16	11	2
Almeria	34.0	12.1	0	0	0
Seville	35.9	9.5	34	12	5
Cordoba	35.9	6.9	41	14	6
Jerez de la Frontera	32.7	7.9	49	25	5
Murcia	31.4	10.7	0	0	0

Climatology for May

Reporting Station	Extreme High Temp	Extreme Low Temp	Average Rain (mm)	Extreme Wettest day (mm)	Average Rain days
Malaga Airport	35.0	5.0	25	44	3
Granada Airport	38.4	-0.2	28	57	4
Almeria	34.8	8.4	14	44	2
Seville	39.1	3.8	34	45	4
Cordoba	40.1	2.4	34	44	5
Jerez de la Frontera	38.2	5.0	37	74	4
Murcia	38.5	5.0	32	35	4