Editorial

New Book – Durham Weather and Climate Since 1841

Description Product Description The British have always been obsessed by the weather. Astronomers at Durham Observatory began weather observations in 1841; weather records continue unbroken to this day, one of the longest continuous series of single-site weather records in Europe. Durham Weather and Climate since 1841 represents the first full publication of this newly digitised record of English weather, which will be of lasting appeal to interested readers and climate researchers alike. The book celebrates 180 years of weather in north-east England by describing how the records were (and are) made and the people who made them, examines monthly and seasonal …

Read the full post

Tonga volcanic eruption detected in Durham!

Tongan volcanic eruption shockwave in Durham Weather data

On 15th January a sub-marine volcano, Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai, just off the coast of Tonga, exploded with incredible force. The blast wave was visible from space and caused tsunami waves all around the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean. The eruption was some 10,000 miles away from the UK, on the other side of the World. For those that don’t know, Tonga is close to New Zealand, so a long way away. On the morning of the 16th, reports started coming in on Twitter from different parts of the globe, showing disturbances in atmospheric pressure. I looked on my weather station …

Read the full post

New 1991-2020 Climate Means for Durham

Met Office UK Climate Averages Header

The latest 30 years means have been published by the Met Office. The period covers the 30 years between 1991-2020 and will be used going forward as a representative of climate norms. The figures show a warming of about 0.3 degC overall, particularly in late winter/spring, with a slight increase in sunshine, but also wetter, particularly the 2nd half of the year. Durham’s new figures are below (previous 1981-2010 figures in parentheses) January Mean Max: 6.9 degC (6.6) Mean Min: 1.3 degC (0.9) Mean: 4.1 degC (3.8) Air Frosts: 10.3 days (11.3) Sunshine: 60.9 hrs (58.6) Rainfall: 51.8 mm (52.3) …

Read the full post

New website url

From 20th of April 2021 this website has a new url address. https://durhamukweather.com This is because: a) The website has moved host, and b) The new host doesn’t handle .co.uk domains All traffic will be automatically forwarded to the new site address from the old one (durhamweather.co.uk). Otherwise, the site and it’s content are identical. If you have the site bookmarked, please use the new url. If there are any problems you spot, please let me know. Thanks, Dave (owner)

Exclusive content for Durham Weather supporters

Hi there. The Eagle-eyed of you will have noticed a pop-up box lurking on the site, inviting you to sign up. This clever little thing allows me to annoy uncomitted visitors, but also rather cunningly it allows me to provide ‘members only’ content to people who support me by signing up. Running a website on a voluntary basis is unlikely to make me rich, but if I can make you feel special  while giving you exclusive content then I think it’s worth the trade. This is what I intend to do here at Durham Weather. I’ll be providing exclusive content …

Read the full post

Weather Lore Calendar – Sense or Nonsense?

Sheep on the Durham Hills in front of a sunset

For centuries, farmers and sailors – people whose livelihoods depend on the weather – relied on ‘lore’ to forecast the weather. They quickly connected changes in nature with rhythms or patterns of the weather. Here is a collection of proverbs relating to months, weeks and days. Some of them make scientific sense, but some of them also sound like something Jim from The Vicar of Dibley would come up with! Do you know any others? Let me know in the comments. January Fog in January brings a wet Spring [13th] St. Hilary, the coldest day of the year [22nd] If …

Read the full post

A quick plug for Aycliffe Fell Walking Club

This is a quick plug for another website I host, for Aycliffe Fell Walking Club. If you are from the local area and you like walking in the hills and countryside of the North East, here’s some details: Aycliffe Fell Walking Club is based in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham (near Darlington in the North East of England) and is open to everyone interested in fell walking or rambling. It caters for walkers of all abilities and ages. It became Aycliffe Fell Walking Club in 2011. Each outing has a variety of walks of different lengths and difficulty ratings and transport …

Read the full post

Netatmo Weather Station – This is what I use

The NetAtmo Weather Station Ensemble

NetAtmo Weather Station My Weather Station of Choice I’ve been using the stylish NetAtmo Weather Station for about 2 years now so I’ve given it a good test. Within that time, i’ve had a few teething problems, but these are almost inevitable with Weather Stations and the more different types you use, the more you realise they all have their own quirks. The NetAtmo Weather Station is no different. Setting it up is quite easy though as it’s all done through the NetAtmo mobile app, which then connects all of the modules wirelessly to your wifi network. The base station is mains …

Read the full post

What does extreme weather mean for home insurance?

rescuers paddling through flood water after floods in June 2019

Flooding, heatwaves, winter storms – extreme weather is about to start hitting you in the pocket. Lost among the latest barrage of national and international news events is the ongoing nightmare faced by almost 600 households unable to return to their homes in Lincolnshire because of flooding in June 2019. In the last week the River Steeping burst its banks following heavy rains. More than 580 homes in the Wainfleet area were evacuated, with flooding directly affecting around 130 homes and 1,000 people still unable to return. It’s the latest case of extreme weather to hit the UK. Extreme meteorological …

Read the full post