Airlie Beach Weather In May

airlie beach weather in May

May is one of our glamour months with blue skies, warm days, coolish nights, clear water and hardly any rain. Autumn is generally a great time of year to visit the far north and here is why.

Temperature

In May, Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays are absolutely spectacular more often than not. The wet season is well and truly gone and we start to experience weather very similar to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. Day time temperatures will rarely go above 26 degrees and at night it will start to get down around 20 degrees.

It’s almost cool enough to wear jeans.

May signals the start of some of the most pleasant outdoor dining experiences you can have in Australia. We will write a list of our favourite alfresco restaurants soon to help point you in the right direction.

Rain

May gives us very little rain in the tropics and the small amount we do get will almost always fall at night. May is basically the start of our dry season though you would not be able to tell at a glance. All the trees and grass are still revelling in the underlying water that we received over the wet season, so everything is nice and green.

Wind

Consistency is what we love in The Whitsundays and May does not disappoint. We get gentle breezes that flow up the east coast of Australia, bringing cool fresh sea air with them.

The air in May becomes increasingly drier, which takes the humid sting out of it. You may even find yourself wanting to put on a jumper at night. For the locals, this is a pretty big deal, our jumpers have been hanging in the wardrobe for several months collecting dust, so it’s nice to be able to pull them out.

Sea Conditions

May is one of our best months to be exploring The Whitsundays. The swell almost never goes above 1 meter, and the wind rarely goes above 15 knots. Blue skies and warm days are normal in May, perfect for visiting Whitehaven Beach and going snorkelling.

A tour around The Whitsundays in high winds versus a tour in low winds will be more or less the same, provided you are on the right boat.

Thundercat was specifically built to be stable and comfortable all year round, no matter what the weather throws our way. Click here to check it out.

thundercat whitsundays

So Should You Visit Airlie Beach In May?

We honestly cannot recommend May enough. Most of us here in Airlie Beach truly enjoy this month for all of the reasons listed above and much more. Once the heat reduces to a more comfortable level for our southern friends, we find that town really starts to come alive.