Weather in April/May

[Wandering Winter]

Hi,

I am looking to do my first Camino in either April or May in 2020. Has anyone walked Camino Francés at this time of year and if so what was the weather like? I have heard it can be a nice time to walk but that there can be lots of rain.

I appreciate your help.

 

[Bradypus]

The weather is very unpredictable. You do not say which parts of the Camino Frances you intend to walk. An extreme example from April this year - taken from a webcam in O Cebreiro on April 24th. It is quite possible that you might find something similar in the higher sections of the route.

 

[spursfan]

It's odd to use a small sample of forum responses to try and forecast what next year's weather will be like

Better to wait until nearer your departure date and find out how rainy the winter/spring has been and only then look at some long-range weather forecasts

You can easily find typical historic numbers of days on which rain has fallen / amount of rain fallen by month for various parts of Spain

And you'll definitely need to bring a good rain jacket (Gore-Tex light preferred but expensive)

 

[Wandering Winter]

The weather is very unpredictable. You do not say which parts of the Camino Frances you intend to walk. An extreme example from April this year - taken from a webcam in O Cebreiro on April 24th. It is quite possible that you might find something similar in the higher sections of the route.
View attachment 64619

Thanks for your reply. I intend to walk from Leon to Santiago as I am limited on time.

 

[Kanga]

I think it is pretty safe to predict that in May you will find many thousands of people walking the Camino Francés - May is the most popular time for people to set out from SJPDP - see the chart on this thread.

Weather is unpredictable. I've walked in both April and May and had every kind of temperature and weather.

 

[Mark Day]

This is a record of the weather for this year end of April to beginning of June
Data was from Accuweather as it happened.

Date	Stop Over Location	Temperature Low	Temperature High	Rain/Snow/Sun
28/04/2020​	Biarritz-St Jean	13​	22​	Partly Sunny
29/04/2020​	Roncesvalles	8​	19​	Partly Sunny
30/04/2020​	Zubri	10​	21​	Partly Sunny Possible Thunderstorm
01/05/2020​	Pamplona	10​	24​	Mostly sunny
02/05/2020​	Puente La Reina	9​	19​	Cloudy
03/05/2020​	Estella	6​	13​	Partly Cloudy Showers
04/05/2020​	Torres del Rio	11​	20​	Partly Cloudy
05/05/2020​	Logrono	10​	18​	Mostly sunny
06/05/2020​	Najera	11​	25​	Partly Cloudy
07/05/2020​	Santo Domingo	7​	25​	Partly Cloudy
08/05/2020​	Belorado	6​	14​	Showers
09/05/2020​	Atapuerca	1​	14​	Showers
10/05/2020​	Burgos	10​	19​	Partly Sunny Possible Thunderstorm
11/05/2020​	Burgos	13​	19​	Mostly sunny
12/05/2020​	Hontanas	11​	21​	Partly Sunny
13/05/2020​	Boadilla	4​	21​	Mostly sunny
14/05/2020​	Carrion 'Condes	6​	27​	Mostly sunny
15/05/2020​	Moratinos	18​	30​	Partly Cloudy
16/05/2020​	Hermanillos	16​	28​	Partly Cloudy
17/05/2020​	Mansilla	6​	12​	Rain
18/05/2020​	Leon	6​	7​	Rain
19/05/2020​	Mazarife	6​	19​	Partly Sunny
20/05/2020​	Astorga	12​	22​	Partly Cloudy
21/05/2020​	Astorga	17​	25​	Partly Cloudy
22/05/2020​	Rabanal	13​	24​	Intermittent Cloud
23/05/2020​	Molinaseca	10​	23​	Partly Cloudy
24/05/2020​	Villafranca Bierzo	19​	26​	Partly Sunny
25/05/2020​	O'Cebreiro	19​	24​	Mostly sunny
26/05/2020​	Tricastela	22​	28​	Mostly sunny
27/05/2020​	Sarria	16​	22​	Mostly Cloudy
28/05/2020​	Portomarin	13​	23​	Partly Sunny
29/05/2020​	Palas do Rei	12​	27​	Sunny
30/05/2020​	Arzua	19​	32​	Mostly sunny
31/05/2020​	O Pedrouzo	21​	34​	Sunny
01/06/2020​	Santiago	21​	30​	Sunny
02/06/2020​	Santiago	15​	23​	Intermittent Cloud
03/06/2020​	Negreira	16​	24​	Mostly sunny
04/06/2020​	Olveiroa	9​	20​	Thunderstorms
05/06/2020​	Muxia	13​	19​	Partly Sunny Possible Thunderstorm
06/06/2020​	Finisterre	8​	9​	Rain
07/06/2020​	Santiago	12​	19​	Showers
08/06/2020​	Home	9​	17​	Showers

 

[Robo]

I have walked twice from St Jean starting in late April. 28th both times I think.
2015 I had hardly any rain at all and it was hot! Really hot by midway along the CF. Though snow. on the top of Pyrenees with bright sunshine. Warm...

2018 It was low cloud, rain and high winds crossing the Pyrenees.
Needed to keep moving to stay warm.
Cool and bits of rain most of the way. Not too hot.

Plan for. Sun, Rain, Wind, Possibly Snow on Day 1 and you'll be fine.
With temperatures from 0C on the Pyrenees to +30C further along the route.

That should cover most likely scenarios

The lesson? Be prepared, plan on layering clothing, and have good rain gear........
2015 I barely used my rain gear. 2018 used it 50% of the time. and needed my Sun Umbrella about 30% of the time. 2015 got sunburn, wished I had an Umbrella. Go figure...............

 

[Wandering Winter]

I have walked twice from St Jean starting in late April. 28th both times I think.
2015 I had hardly any rain at all and it was hot! Really hot by midway along the CF. Though snow. on the top of Pyrenees with bright sunshine. Warm...

2018 It was low cloud, rain and high winds crossing the Pyrenees.
Needed to keep moving to stay warm.
Cool and bits of rain most of the way. Not too hot.

Plan for. Sun, Rain, Wind, Possibly Snow on Day 1 and you'll be fine.
With temperatures from 0C on the Pyrenees to +30C further along the route.

That should cover most likely scenarios

The lesson? Be prepared, plan on layering clothing, and have good rain gear........
2015 I barely used my rain gear. 2018 used it 50% of the time. and needed my Sun Umbrella about 30% of the time. 2015 got sunburn, wished I had an Umbrella. Go figure...............

Thanks vet much Robo, appreciate your response. I figured it would be mixed weather.

 

[Deleted member 397]

It could be hot,cold,wet,windy,snowing....hope that helps

 

[dfox]

This is a record of the weather for this year end of April to beginning of June
Data was from Accuweather as it happened.

Are the temperature mentioned in the table above for April-June, 2019 or April-June, 2020? Please help!

 

[lt56ny]

You can't predict the weather but I bet you can predict it will be crowded.

 

[jefferyonthecamino]

the rain in spain stays mainly on the plain

that said, although spain tends to get less rain than other northern european countries, we get (extremely) concerned when it doesn't rain at all in spring (because we know we won't see rain till late autumn).
nights will be chilly to cold (not freezing), days can be cold to cool to pleasantly warm.

it's an awesome time of year to walk the Camino, specially the Meseta

 

[Mark Day]

View attachment 64623

Are the temperature mentioned in the table above for April-June, 2019 or April-June, 2020? Please help!

Hi,

These were the temps for this year. I checked them every day using Accuweather. I did it to get an idea of the temps we could be looking at when we go next April.

 

[Eve Alexandra]

Great info. Hope it's ok I'm bringing this back up. I'll be checking weather when it gets closer, for sure, to make last minute judgment calls (headed out mid April). I'm just curious about packing lists for this time of year.

I run hot. 43 degrees and sunny is short sleeves for me. 43 and windy/no sun would be short sleeves and a sun hoodie, or just my rain jacket over it.

I'm trying to decide if it would be a safe bet to assume generally warmer weather once out of the mountains, and therefore not pack as many warm layers, figuring I can always extra layer for the first few days until I'm out of the mountains? I won't be walking past Astorga this time, so I'm not worried about O Ceb.

I can drop 10 oz if I don't bring my wool leggings, for instance. I used them a ton in Galicia last time, but if I only need them for the first couple days, couldn't I just layer hiking leggings with my hiking pants?