May’s total was 36.9mm, down 30% on the average and so continuing the dry spring theme. A very wet day on the 2nd with 15.5mm, after which there was a dryish period until the middle of the month, when it did turn wetter but with no great amount of rain. It also turned much colder with that old friend, the (still chilly) northeast wind turning up once more. Then a high-pressure system moved in around the 18th, and the wind came directly from the south. The heat started to build until an official heat wave was declared from the 22nd to the 27th. And it was unprecedented for May with temperatures hitting new records, which would have been awfully fierce for high summer, let alone late spring. The early hours of the 28th saw one of nature’s light shows with accompanying soundtrack, and it made the owd cottage tremble a time or two. The met. Spring rainfall total was 88.1mm, which was just half the average, so a second dry spring following last year’s very dry one (down 80% on the average that year). Spring 2025 still retains the sunniest and warmest records, but spring 2026 is up there in the top 5 for both, with the warmest category boosted by the May heat wave.