May Weather at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport Canada

Daily high temperatures increase by 10°F, from 61°F to 71°F, rarely falling below 48°F or exceeding 82°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 10°F, from 40°F to 50°F, rarely falling below 31°F or exceeding 60°F.

For reference, on July 19, the hottest day of the year, temperatures at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport typically range from 59°F to 79°F, while on January 29, the coldest day of the year, they range from 13°F to 27°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.

Sapporo, Japan (5,932 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Kitchener/Waterloo Airport (view comparison).

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The month of May at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 50% throughout the month.

The clearest day of the month is May 31, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 52% of the time.

For reference, on January 10, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 67%, while on August 19, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 66%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. At Kitchener/Waterloo Airport, the chance of a wet day over the course of May is gradually increasing, starting the month at 26% and ending it at 29%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 31% on July 30, and its lowest chance is 15% on February 2.

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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is gradually increasing, starting the month at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.1 inches or falls below 0.7 inches, and ending the month at 2.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 3.9 inches or falls below 1.0 inches.

Over the course of May at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the month, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 1 minute, implying an average daily increase of 2 minutes, 2 seconds, and weekly increase of 14 minutes, 11 seconds.

The shortest day of the month is May 1, with 14 hours, 11 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 31, with 15 hours, 11 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the month at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is 6:13 AM on May 1 and the earliest sunrise is 30 minutes earlier at 5:43 AM on May 31.

The earliest sunset is 8:24 PM on May 1 and the latest sunset is 31 minutes later at 8:55 PM on May 31.

Daylight saving time is observed at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport during 2024, but it neither starts nor ends during May, so the entire month is in standard time.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:40 AM and sets 15 hours, 25 minutes later, at 9:05 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:51 AM and sets 8 hours, 57 minutes later, at 4:48 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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is increasing during May, rising from 0% to 5% over the course of the month.

For reference, on July 29, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 23% of the time, while on October 23, 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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is decreasing during May, decreasing from 11.1 miles per hour to 9.7 miles per hour over the course of the month.

For reference, on January 12, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.8 miles per hour, while on August 3, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 8.4 miles per hour.

The hourly average wind direction at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport throughout May is predominantly from the west, with a peak proportion of 36% on May 31.

Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is very rapidly increasing during May, rising by 12°F, from 43°F to 55°F, over the course of the month.

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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport typically lasts for 5.0 months (155 days), from around May 6 to around October 8, rarely starting before April 19 or after May 24, and rarely ending before September 22 or after October 25.

During May at Kitchener/Waterloo Airport, the chance that a given day is within the growing season is very rapidly increasing rising from 35% to 97% over the course of the month.

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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport are increasing during May, increasing by 225°F, from 88°F to 313°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 Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is gradually increasing during May, rising by 0.8 kWh, from 5.8 kWh to 6.6 kWh, over the course of the month.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kitchener/Waterloo Airport are 43.457 deg latitude, -80.386 deg longitude, and 1,027 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Kitchener/Waterloo Airport contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 187 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 1,023 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (495 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,503 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Kitchener/Waterloo Airport is covered by grassland (34%), trees (33%), and cropland (32%), within 10 miles by cropland (45%) and trees (24%), and within 50 miles by cropland (52%) and trees (18%).