After basking in the glorious rays for weeks it will come as no surprise to learn that last month was the sunniest May on record.

Barring a couple of cooler days and a few sharp showers, the island enjoyed wall-to-wall sunshine which ended, in typical fashion, with the start of the TT fortnight.

Not only was it sunny but it was also very dry with little rainfall while temperatures were also well above average.

Ronaldsway Met Office forecaster Gary Salisbury said: ‘The fine spring continued though most of May, right up until the last week.

‘Just 0.4mm of rain fell in the first three weeks of the month and sunshine hours topped the all-time record at 319.4 hours. The previous sunniest May was 1977 with 303.6 hours.

‘Temperatures were well above the long term average (1991-2020). The mean of the daily peaks comes to 16.7C, which is over two degrees above average and the highest on record, comfortably exceeding the previous highest of 16.1°C from 2008.’

Nighttime temperatures were also above average at 9.2°C which is 1.1C above average although they were kept lower by the clear skies. The warmest day was May 12, with 23.2C achieved at Ronaldsway – fourth place on the warmest May temperatures table.

Mr Salisbury said: ‘Those lower overnight temperatures kept the mean 24-hour value down to 13C, which slots into second place. Interestingly, last year’s very wet May had the highest 24-hour mean, at 13.1C, as all the rain kept night temperatures up.

‘Even with the more unsettled last week, total rainfall only came to 23.7mm, which is less than half the average for May.’

Winds were also slightly below average with Mr Salisbury adding: ‘Most of the month had relatively light winds but there were three days with strong winds in the last week.’