Winter Weather

Winter Weather in Durham UK

Feb 2022 Weather Summary for Durham – Mainly Mild, Few Frosts

Temperaature In continuation from January, February 2022 was mainly mild. The mean temperature was 6.0 degC, which is 1.4 degC above the 1991-2020 climatic mean.  The month was still well behind the mildest ever February in Durham though, this being in 1998 (7.6). There was only one recorded air frost, on February 11th, when the thermometer dropped to -1.7 degC. This is unusual for February. The highest temperature was early in the month, 11.7 degC being recorded on the 2nd. This was nowhere near the record for February, which stands at 17.4 degC, recorded on 28th February 2012. The temperature topped …

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January 2022 in Durham – Mild, mainly dry and very sunny

Storm damage from Storm Malik

The new climate means for 1991-2020 have just been published and that is what I will be comparing to going forward. January 2022 was a mild and very dry month in Durham. Temperature wise, the mean temperature came in at 4.7 degC, which is about 0.6 degC above the new normal for January. As can be seen by the graph, the mean slowly increased as the month wore on. The highest temperature of the month was on New Years Day 2022, which became the mildest 1st January ever recorded in most places, significantly beating the old mark. In fact Nationally, …

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December 2021 Weather in Durham – Dull and Boring

December 2021 turned into a very dull and boring month after all the activity at the end of November because of Storm Arwen. When I say dull, I mean that there really were long periods when the sun just didn’t shine for us. Seemingly endless periods of damp, clammy cloudy weather. This was especially the case around mid-month, when anticyclonic gloom was a feature. The lack of sunshine was evident in daily maxima, which stayed suppressed below 8 degC for most of the month, noteably 2nd-10th and 17th-28th. The synoptics before Christmas were shaping up to give us a snowy …

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February 2021 Weather Report for Durham – Huge Contrasts

The racecourse fields, covered in frost

February 2021 was a month of great contrasts. The second half of January 2021 was cold and had frequent frosts. This set the underlying theme for early Feb. The first week of the month was very wet, with more than 10mm rainfall on 2nd, 3rd and 6th. We then experienced an intense cold period between 7th and 14th. I kept thinking back to February 1991 for a comparison. February 2021 didn’t have as much snow, but was just as cold. Freezing Days and Ice Days have been rare in Durham over the last decade, but this period produced a few …

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Some Incredible Ice Formations on Potters Bank, Durham Feb 2021

Close up of Ice on grass at the side of Potters Bank, Durham Feb 11th 2021

I spotted these photos on Facebook and contacted the owner Zanna Clay, who kindly gave me permission to use them. The photos show fantastic ice formations on the grass and hedges by the side of the road on Potters Bank in Durham. It was caused by passing cars spraying water from the road onto the grass, then freezing, making incredible ice formations.  

What is ‘The Beast from The East’?

Deep snow in Durham, December 2010

The upcoming cold weather is expected to hit us hard next week. It will come from the continent and traditionally, this is where our coldest weather comes from. Over here on the East Coast, we have no protection from any Easterly or North Easterly, so we tend to bear the brunt of this weather type. The phenomenon occurs every few years and the tabloid newspapers have christened it as ‘The Beast from The East’. So, what exactly is ‘The Beast From The East’? It sounds like some kind of Oriental horror movie, or the title of a Heavy Metal album, …

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January 2021 Weather Report for Durham – Wet and Cold

Durham Cathedral in the snow, January 2021

January 2021 – A cold, wet month at Durham With Storm Christoph a noteable feature Temperature After the warmth of January 2020, this month proved to be the exact opposite. The month proved to be both wet and wintry, with an exceptional snowfall in the North East area on or around the 6th-8th of the month. Some photos can be seen here. The month averaged only 2.3 degC, which is the coldest January in Durham since 2010. Not unusually for a cold month, it had 13 air frosts recorded, with the lowest temperature of -4.2 degC on the 9th January. …

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The last 5 Februarys in the UK according to Trevor Harley

2016 An unsettled first half but turning colder in the second half. Overall it was about average temperature; it was warmer than usual in the south, but colder than average in Northern Ireland and Scotland. The lowest temperature of the month is -14.1C at Braemar early on the 14th, the lowest temperature in the UK since February 2012. The highest temperature of the month was 16.0 at Exeter on the 21st. It was a wet month (129% of average), being particularly wet in the west but drier in the east. It was a sunny month, with 122% of expected sunshine. …

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