May 2019 Weather in Durham – Not really settled yet

daffodils at shincliffe village 11th march 2019

May 2019 Summary May opened disappointingly cool, with the preponderence of winds from an Northerly and Easterly sector, the direction no-one wants at this time of the year. There was no real warmth until the 13th and then only for three days! Temperatures did recover a bit in the second half, to give an overall mean of 10.9 degC, which …

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March 2019 Weather in Durham – Warm and slightly wetter than average

March 2019 was another month of above average temperatures in Durham, with the monthly mean coming in at 7.2 degC, which is about 1.3 degrees above the long term average. The Maximum temperature was 17.1 degC on 29th, with the Minimum at 0.1 degC recorded on the morning of the 8th March. The rainfall total of 51.7mm fell mainly in …

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February 2019 Weather in Durham – Historically warm after a freezing start

February started very cold in Durham, with the first 3 days averaging below freezing. Rain was plentiful until the 9th, but then the dry weather of February returned, accompanied by increasingly warm unseasonal temperatures. The airstream was coming from the Canary Islands. The all-time February record was smashed in England and Wales on 26th and 27th, topping 20 degC for …

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December 2018 Weather in durham

Sherburn from the railway path

December started quite wet, then mostly dry later. The second half of the month was quieter with a lot of High Pressure influence. Rainfall total was 41mm, which is only 72% of normal for December. In late afternoon/evening of 15th December there was a fall of snow/sleet/freezing rain. A right hogs breakfast with strong south easterly winds. Precipitation total was …

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November 2018 Weather in Durham – Typical November Weather

November 2018 Isobaric map showing very windy conditions in the west of the UK

As is usual at this time of year, there is much speculation about the winter to come. After the brief episode of snow at the end of October 2018, the usual suspects were predicting a snowy November. As is nearly always the case, the snowy November didn’t happen. Temperatures were mild in the first half of the month, and stayed …

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October 2018 Weather in Durham – Very Average

Sunset in Durham Gilesgate in October 2018 with house line silhouetted against a fiery red sky

A very average October this one, mean temperature was +0.1 degC compared to the average in Durham (9.8 degC) and rainfall was spot on average (60.9 mm) for the month. The bulk of the rainfall came in two spells, around the 12th-13th and 27th-30th. There were several ground frosts late in the month as the air flow came from the northerly …

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December 2015 Weather in Durham – Freakishly mild, but wild and wet.

The River Tees gushing over High Force Waterfall in December 2015

December 2015 was easily the mildest December on record. The mean of 7.9 degC at Durham was 3.9 degC above average. Top 5 warmest Decembers in Durham 1 2015 7.9 degC 2= 1843 7.3 2= 1988 7.3 4 1857 7.0 5 1934 6.8 December 19th 2015 featured the highest ever December temperature recorded in Durham. It reached 15.9 degC, a …

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July 2013 Weather in Durham – Very warm. The 2nd warmest month since 1850 in Durham

In contrast to everything that had gone before, it was the warmest July in Durham since 2006 and therefore the second warmest month on record at Durham since 1850. The absolute maximum (28.4°C) on the 9th was the warmest day at Durham since 18th July 2006. Only 5 days had a maximum below 20°C with 5 days above 25°C. The …

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December 2009/January 2010 Diary – Cold and Snowy in the first half

Snow in December 2009

A diary of the weather from late December 2009 and early 2010. It was a very snowy winter and at times also very cold in Durham. December 2009 – January 2010 Really cold weather kicked in around 17th December 2009 and didn’t let up for a month. Some lowland places had over a month of snowcover between mid December 2009 …

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