2004 Yearly Weather Summary – Remarkably warm in Durham

2004 was another remarkably warm year, the warmest on record at Durham since records began in 1850, the mean of 9.95°C beating the previous highest (2003) by 0.05°C. It was quite a wet year too, the total of 726mm ranking 110th in a series of 153. There were far fewer hours of bright sunshine than normal, however; the total was the 16th lowest since 1881, making 2004 a dull and disappointing year in that respect. It only goes to show that global warming does not necessarily mean unbroken sunshine!

Professor Tim Burt
Department of Geography
Durham University