Local Forecasts, History & Records
Monthly Weather Reports for Durham UK
May 2025 started with a bang. After the heat peaked at the end of April, the 1st May was the warmest ever for that date in the UK. Kew Gardens reached 29.3 degC, closely followed by Wisley and Chertsey at 29.2 degC. We all thought the earliest May day to record the magic 30 degrees was going to be shattered …
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 sun as long as you were out of the breeze. …
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 average. The mean temperature was pegged back a bit by …
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 the month was changeable and mild. Maxima in Durham went …
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 night nationally for 15 years, with -18.9 degC at Altnaharra …
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. Most of the monthly rainfall total fell in the first week. …
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 bringing snow to some areas and some sharp frost. The …
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 and dry spells. Early October saw rain sweeping across the …
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 week, the temperatures touched the 20 degC mark on 3 …
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 the pinnacle of ‘high summer’. The absolute maximum temperature was …
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 (67.9mm). The wettest day was the 9th (13.7mm), but the …
The month started very poorly indeed by recent standards, with a severe hangover 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 the 20 degC mark in the first half of the month. …