The Weather in Durham, North East England
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A Legendary Summer The summer of 1976 is legendary in the UK. It is often talked about as being ‘The Best Summer Ever’. As a 16 year old kid, there were lots of outdoor activities for us. Tennis was high on the list (I’ve hardly played since 😳). I also
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A superb start and end to April April 2025 opened superbly, with perfect blue skies and reasonable temperatures for early Spring. There was a nagging Easterly wind though; the position of the stable high pressure cell was feeding air from a chilly direction, meaning that it was warm in the
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As some of you might have noticed, the World is getting warmer. As that happens, statistically we begin to notice that the distribution of cold/warm months are no longer scattered equally amongst the temperature record. The cold months get less frequent, whilst the warm months are more recently distributed. I
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County Durham—my own stomping ground. It’s a place that doesn’t get nearly enough credit for its beauty, charm, and personality. Tucked neatly between Northumberland to the north and Yorkshire to the south, it’s one of those places in England where the landscape changes every few miles, and you’re never far
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March 2025 was a little above average temperature-wise. The Grassland temperature sum (the sustainable start of vegetation growth in Europe) reached 200 on March 7th 2025. This was 12 days later than the previous year, mainly due to the coldness of January 2025, which was on the colder side of
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The month began with a blocking high giving cold easterly winds, but as easterlies aren’t what they used to be, it wasn’t exceptionally cold. The high started moving away on the 19th, allowing frontal systems to bring some snow to the north, but then mobile westerlies meant the rest of
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A little late this month, but here are the numbers for January 2025 in Durham. It was the coldest January since January 2021 in Durham. Mean temperature was about 1.5 degC below the long term average. The spell from Jan 2nd-12th averaged just 0.1 degC. The 10th-11th was the coldest
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A very mixed and mild month. Storm Darragh battered Britain, mainly in the west facing the Irish Sea. Mobile phone warnings accompanied a Red Met Office warning. There was then an anticyclonic spell mid-month. Christmas was very mild. It was also very wet in Scotland, but not in Durham. The
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The first two weeks of November 2024 were marked by a large stationary anticyclone, giving “anticyclonic gloom”, with many areas particularly in the south being very dull, although dry (only 6% of the expected rainfall had fallen by the 16th). There was a notable northerly outbreak in the third week
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Ah, October in the UK—a month where the weather often feels like it’s playing a game of “guess what’s next.” In 2024, October didn’t disappoint, serving up a mix of sunshine, showers, and a few surprises. A Tale of Two Halves The month kicked off with a blend of wet
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After a disappointing summer, we had all hoped for a September similar to the record one in September 2023. Alas, we were all to be royally disappointed. The gentle transition from Summer to Autumn never really materialised and leaves started falling earlier than we are used to. In the first
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Well, what can I tell you? The summer hasn’t exactly been brilliant has it? After a stuttering start in June, and a mixed July, August was a little disappointing. Don’t get me wrong, of the three summer months, August was steadier than the previous two. But it never really reached
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Let’s take a little journey through the BBC’s weather team history. The BBC has been a cornerstone of weather forecasting in the UK for decades, with its presenters becoming familiar faces to millions. I’ll break down the list into several sections: current presenters, notable historic ones, special mentions and early
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The topsy-turvy Summer 2024 weather continued into July. The last few days of June redeemed the month, but cooler weather returned and it continued into the first half of July. The first half of the month was wet, especially the 9th to 16th, when 50.8mm of the monthly total fell
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The month started very poorly indeed by recent standards, with a severe hang over from the 2nd half of May 2024. May was of course the warmest since 1833 in Durham, but the temperatures at the start of June were very disappointing, with only the 2nd and 3rd crawling past
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May 2024 was classed as ‘very mild’, with the mean a full 2.5 degC above the average, and the mean minimum an extraordinary 4.5 degC above the average. The mean minimum was actually in double figures, something usually reserved for the summer months. Most of the mildness came in the
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I’m going to kick things off by explaining what Global warming really is and why it’s become such a hot-button issue. This isn’t just about a gradual increase in average global temperatures; it’s also about the massive knock-on effect this has on our planet’s climate systems. At its core, global
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A very special night for Northern Lights watchers. In 2016 we went all the way to Iceland to try to see the Northern Lights. Sadly it wasn’t to be. They never showed, and even though Mrs DurhamWeather said she saw them through the plane window on the way home, I
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Wet and mild first half, then drier and colder April 2024 kept the soggy theme going and opened rather wet. 13.5mm of rain fell on the 3rd. The gardens were looking very waterlogged. On Saturday 6th April we were hit by Storm Kathleen, although not as badly as the North
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April 1917 – Perishingly cold at Durham Towards the end of World War 1, with fighting still going on in the trenches of France, April 1917 was quite extraordinary and was the coldest April recorded at Durham. The mean temperature for the month was 4.4C, which is -3.9C when compared
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A Summary of Winter 1962-63 (2,588)
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Winter 1978-79 – The coldest since 1962-63 (1,752)
SloKey Skyways 40070 Telescope for Astronomy (1,185)
Netatmo Weather Station Review (1,184)
‘The Great Darkness’ of July 2nd 1968 (922)
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