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Climate · Cairns

Cairns in May

Warm and wet, as the days shorten.

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years

May in Cairns is warm: highs near 80°F, lows near 72°F. Rain falls on about four days a week, less often as the month goes on, and the days shorten by 17 minutes from the first week to the last.May in Cairns is warm: highs near 27°C, lows near 22°C. Rain falls on about four days a week, less often as the month goes on, and the days shorten by 17 minutes from the first week to the last.

High
80°F27°Caverage
Low
72°F22°Caverage
Wet days
4a week · 52% of days
Daylight
11h 20mon average

Is May a good time to visit Cairns?

A good month, just outside Cairns's best months, which run from June to September.

How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 70°F to 80°F, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 21°C to 27°C, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.

How May sits in the year

week by week

Temperature

Highs near 80°F in May, against 76°F to 87°F through the year.Highs near 27°C in May, against 24°C to 31°C through the year.

Chance of a wet day

52% of days in May, against 29% to 77% through the year.

Cloud cover

56% cover in May, against 50% to 78% through the year.

Daylight

11h 20m in May, against 11h 08m to 13h 07m through the year.

Week by week, lightly smoothed, with May shaded. The olive line marks the best months. Hover or tap a week for its figures.

Either side

  1. April83°28°low 75°low 24°5 wet days a weekRain on about five days a week.
  2. May80°27°low 72°low 22°4 wet days a weekRain on about four days a week.
  3. June77°25°low 69°low 21°3 wet days a weekRain on about three days a week.

Where Cairns sits, in May

Australia/Brisbane
this place
typical high in May 40°F4°C95°F35°C
Sunrise, mid-May
6:33 AMsets 5:53 PM
Above the sea
0 mlow-lying
Latitude
16.9°Ssouthern hemisphere
Nearest of ours
Finlayvale68 km north-west

The land around Cairns, shaded by its typical high in May, the planning map's own layer. Hover the map for the figure at that spot; tap it on a phone. Clock times are local, for the 15th.

Elsewhere in Australia in May

high · low · wet days
See May on the planning mapThe whole year in Cairns

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years (1995–2024), read 14 km east of Cairns. Its own grid square is mostly sea and holds only a daily average, so the page reads the nearest square with a true high and low near the town's height. Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 3.1°F cold in the source data and are raised to match.Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 1.7°C cold in the source data and are raised to match. Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not. Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.

Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not.

Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.