October Weather

October weather in Durham UK

October 2023 in Durham – Very Wet, Especially Later

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Mild at first, then cool and very wet (Storm Babet) The very first day of October 2023 delivered a 20 degC marker, which was the highest of the month. It remained very mild until 10th when it became much cooler. The first 10 days averaged  14.7 degC, with a mean max of 17.7 degC. It felt quite balmy. It was still quite dry though, and there had only been 16.6mm of rain up to the 18th. Then the heavens opened. On 19th-20th October, Storm Babet produced 69.2 mm of rain in Durham. The three day period 19th-21st October 2023 yielded 72.7mm. Many places were even wetter, with a Met Office red alert issued in Eastern Scotland (Angus). 150-200mm fell there. Winds around Storm Babet were also very high and the domed top of South Shields lighthouse has been ripped off into the sea during the storm. Storm Babet: South Shields Lighthouse dome search continues Met Office – Storm Babet The wet weather then continued to the end of the month, with notable falls of 10.4mm on the 26th and another 27.1mm on the 29th. The final total for October 2023 was 132.0 mm from 21 rainy days. 115.4 mm fell …

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What weather should we expect in October?

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October is the month when we really notice the reduction in daylight and the approach of winter. Sunrise is 7:08am on the 1st of the month, with the sun setting at 18:43pm. The sunrise gets later until 28th October when it doesn’t rise until 8:00am. Then the clocks go back on the 29th October and it’s back to 7:02am! Unfortunately, sunset is now 16:37pm, so that makes us feel bad. The temperatures can be wildly different, with the start of October sometimes seeing 20 degC, but there can be some noticeable frosts in the second half of the month. October in Durham (Means 1991-2020) Mean Max: 13.5 degC Mean Min: 6.5 degC Mean: 10.0 degC Air Frosts: 1.2 days Sunshine: 98.9 hrs Rainfall: 63.4 mm Days rain: 11.8 days October has warmed slightly in the last 30 years and has become slightly duller, with an extra day of rain on average. Sunshine is around 3.3 hours per day on average, which isn’t brilliant, but as we approach the end of the year it can keep spirits up. In some Octobers, we can get what is described as an ‘Indian Summer‘. This is a term which is often misused. An Indian …

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October 2022 Weather in Durham – Mainly mild and unsettled

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October banner : pumpkin and black cat

The Weather at Gilesgate, Durham October 2022 The month was very mild. The temperature reached double figures every day, with an average max of nearly 15 degrees centigrade. There were no air frosts at all during the month. Professor Tim Burt reported that October 2022 was the 6th warmest October since 1843 at Durham. Thirteen days exceeded 15 degC at Gilesgate (14 at Durham University Observatory). Rainfall was well distributed across the month. The wettest day was the 20th (23.2mm) and the total of 82mm was a little on the wet side overall for October. From Trevor Harley Mild and unsettled, although with a cooler second week and very mild final ten days, with warm air sucked up from the south. There was generally little frost around. Maximum temperatures were most above average in SE England, and minimum temperatures most above average in central Scotland. (I can vouch for that; see my weather diary pages for Trevor Harley’s own weather station in East Scotland). The CET was 12.8 C, +2.0 over the 1990-2020 mean, making it the joint fifth warmest on record (since 1659, after 2001, which had an average of 13.2, and 1969, 2005, and 2006; six of the …

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October 2021 Weather at Durham – Mostly unsettled

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October 2021. Mostly unsettled and wet, with above average temperatures with few frosts. There was some very heavy rain in the NW at the end of the month. Rainfall overall was 128% of the long-term average, but over 150% in the NW. It was quite dull, with 87% of average sunshine; it was particularly dull in Scotland. The highest temperature of the month was 22.9 ºC at Thornes Park (West Yorks.) on the 8th, and the lowest -3.6 at Redesdale Camp (Northumberland) on the 16th. Of most interest was the rainfall in Cumbria and SW Scotland in the last five days. In the rain day ending on the 28th, 222.6 mm of rain fell at Honister Pass, following 343 mm in the 48 hours of the 26th and 27th. Latest October Posts

October 5th 2021 – What a Deluge!

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As some of you may have noticed, yesterday (October 5th 2021) was extremely wet! After a long spell with no real heavy rain, it seemingly all arrived on one day. We’d been warned to expect heavy rainfall, but it proved even wetter than that. Durham and North East England just seemed to be in the wrong place this time! Here’s the record from my log in Gilesgate. It shows the final total of rainfall for 5th October 2021. The final accumulated 43.8mm is quite an impressive total. The 40mm mark of rainfall in a single day isn’t breached too often in Durham, and looking back into my records for Gilesgate, it was the wettest day at my weather station since 22nd November 2017, when an extraordinary storm dropped 49.3mm on Durham in just a few hours. Other areas of North East England also had very high totals on 5th October 2021, including a fall of  64mm in Leadgate, nr. Consett. There were also reports of flooding in both Sunderland and Newcastle. Latest Flooding Posts

The Last 5 Octobers in the UK According to Trevor Harley

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October 2016 A very anticyclonic month, with high pressure centred over Scandinavia, so generally a very easterly month. The end of the month was very mild. Overall very slightly warmer than the long-term average, but very dry, with 38% of the average rainfall. It was wettest in places most affected by showers from the east. It was sunnier than average (117%), particularly in the west; northern Scotland recorded its sunniest October since records began (only in 1929). The highest temperature of the month was 22.2C at Trawscoed (Dyfed) on the 31st, and the lowest -5.0C at Tulloch Bridge (Invernessshire) on the 25th. October 2017 A very westerly and southwesterly month. Ex-hurricane Ophelia brought some very windy and warm conditions around the 16th. Overall it was warmer than average, particularly in the east. It was dry except for the NW, and very dry in the SE (under 25% of average). It was a dull month; the equal dullest October on record in Northern Ireland. The highest temperature of the month was 23.5C at Manston (Kent) on the 16th; the lowest -5.0C at Tulloch Bridge (Invernessshire) on the 30th, in a brief northerly outbreak. October 2018 Another unsettled month. The second week …

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October 2020 Weather in Durham – Starts very wet with Storm Alex, then continues moist.

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Rainfall October 2020 opened very wet. A total of 32.7mm of rain was recorded at Gilesgate, Durham on 3rd resulted in a rapid rise in the River Wear, overtopping the banks in places, and reaching 2.76m at 8:15am on the 4th. The river level fell back rapidly and had dropped a metre by mid afternoon. It was the wettest day of 2020 so far and proved to be the wettest day of the month. The wet theme continued after the deluge on the 3rd (declared the wettest day on record country-wide by the Met Office). There were very wet days recorded on the 8th and 12th-13th (combined total 27.1mm). The second half of the month was slightly less wet than the first, but there were still only two days without rain in the entire month (one in each half). There are some errors in the daily rainfall totals shown in the tables below here. This was due to me changing faulty drained batteries in the sensors. The overall correct total of rain for the month was 113.4mm The individual daily totals in error were 1st (corrected total 1.7mm), 9th (corrected to 0.6mm), 10th (corrected total 7.7mm) and 12th (correct total …

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October 2019 Weather in Durham – Wet and Cold

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October 2019 was more akin to the typical model of what October should be in the UK. Autumn storms propelled by the Atlantic, rain and plenty of it and none of the unseasonably warm rubbish, quite the opposite in fact. If you like warm Octobers, tough luck, this wasn’t one of ‘em. October was actually a colder than average month. It was wet again, following the trend of soggy months since June. Nearly 480mm has fallen in the June-October period. Rainfall was spread over the whole month, with the first week being the wettest. Only 8 dry days in the month, the total came to 108.1mm, which is nearly double normal (60.9mm). We didn’t seem to have any of the flooding they had in the rest of the country though, which was good. Met Office: Persistent Wet Weather Late October The absolute max temperature for the month was only 14.2 degC, on the 8th, and the minima were frequently low, particularly in the last week, with a couple of mornings with ground frost and the need to scrape car windscreens. The mean for the month was 8.4 degC (max+min/2) and that was 1.4 degC below the long term average, but …

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Durham Castle at Halloween 2018

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picture of durham castle from beside the river wear

Durham Castle in the sunshine on the last day of October 2018. The weather was crisp and quite calm after a cold night before. The Castle is used for some ceremonies and houses Durham students during term time. It can be hired privately out of term. Durham Castle and the River Wear, Halloween 2018