May Weather at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport Georgia, United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 7°F, from 77°F to 83°F, rarely falling below 67°F or exceeding 90°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 8°F, from 58°F to 66°F, rarely falling below 48°F or exceeding 72°F.

For reference, on July 21, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport typically range from 72°F to 89°F, while on January 23, the coldest day of the year, they range from 36°F to 53°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on May. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Sari, Iran (6,874 miles away); Yanjiang, China (8,000 miles); and Baiyun, China (8,047 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (view comparison).

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The month of May at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 43% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is May 1, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 59% of the time.

For reference, on January 4, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 54%, while on October 14, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 67%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of May is increasing, starting the month at 30% and ending it at 35%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 44% on July 8, and its lowest chance is 19% on October 28.

Rainfall

To show variation within the month and not just the monthly total, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during May at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is essentially constant, remaining about 3.1 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 5.8 inches or falling below 1.1 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 3.0 inches on May 24.

Over the course of May at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the length of the day is increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 41 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 23 seconds, and weekly increase of 9 minutes, 40 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is May 1, with 13 hours, 33 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 31, with 14 hours, 14 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is 6:48 AM on May 1 and the earliest sunrise is 20 minutes earlier at 6:28 AM on May 31.

The earliest sunset is 8:21 PM on May 1 and the latest sunset is 21 minutes later at 8:42 PM on May 31.

Daylight saving time is observed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during May, so the entire month is in daylight saving time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:27 AM and sets 14 hours, 23 minutes later, at 8:51 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:38 AM and sets 9 hours, 55 minutes later, at 5:33 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for May 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is very rapidly increasing during May, rising from 7% to 37% over the course of the month.

For reference, on July 24, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 85% of the time, while on January 15, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is gradually decreasing during May, decreasing from 5.9 miles per hour to 5.1 miles per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on March 7, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.1 miles per hour, while on August 4, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.2 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport throughout May is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 34% on May 1.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport typically lasts for 8.2 months (252 days), from around March 14 to around November 20, rarely starting before February 14 or after April 7, and rarely ending before November 2 or after December 13.

The month of May at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is reliably fully within the growing season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are rapidly increasing during May, increasing by 614°F, from 806°F to 1,420°F, over the course of the month.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is essentially constant during May, remaining within 0.1 kWh of 6.6 kWh throughout.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport are 33.641 deg latitude, -84.423 deg longitude, and 988 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 190 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 975 feet. Within 10 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (436 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,959 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is covered by artificial surfaces (97%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (81%) and trees (17%), and within 50 miles by trees (58%) and artificial surfaces (26%).