Durham Climate and Weather
See the new 1991-2020 averages for Durham
The weather and climate of Durham in North East England is heavily influenced by The North Sea, which keeps us relatively warm in winter and cooler in summer. Lying to the east of the Pennines, Durham is within the rain shadow of the mountains, and normal yearly totals of rain are in the region of 650 mm. Typical annual extremes of temperature are -6 degC to 28 degC. The area is also sheltered from the worst of the winter weather and gales, although conditions can sometimes be very gusty in the lee of the Pennines as winds race down the Eastern slopes during Westerly winds.
Spring Weather
The spring is generally the driest season in Durham, and the weather can be quite nice, but sometimes there is a tendancy for Easterly winds to set in, making it feel rather raw as the North Sea is at its coolest in Spring at around 8 degC.
There is also a tendancy for the East coast to be shrouded in mist in late spring (it’s called Haar), making us jealous when the rest of the country is basking in good weather with sweltering temperatures, but the ‘haar’ as it is called is really only a problem in late Spring, with Durham tending to be at the western limit of the sea breeze and just far enough in land to reduce it.
Frosts are still a danger until early May.
Summer Weather
Very often the sunniest weather in Durham is in late-May/early June. June can be really hot too, but also very wet! By July and August we can expect temperatures to rise to between 25 and 28 degC on the warmest days, although anything higher than that is very rare, indeed 30 degC has only been breached on about 35 days in nearly 170 years in Durham, but it is becoming more frequent due to Climate Change.
Note: July 19th 2022 saw the temperature rise to a new record of 36.9 degC at Durham.
Autumn Weather
In more recent times, autumn has been very mild here, with September usually as warm as June. We can experience temps up to 25 degC typically, with no real danger of frost until October/November time. However, the autumn is a lot wetter than the spring, with the wettest month having almost double the rainfall on average, but this still amounts to no more than around 70mm in a typical year.
The highest temperature ever recorded in County Durham in Autumn was on 1st September 1906 when a value of 33.9 degC was reached at Ushaw, just west of Durham. This was exceptional.
Winter Weather
Winter hadn’t been really cruel to us for a while, with December becoming an extension of November, typically with more worries about gales than snow. The only two real ‘winter’ months being January and February, but in more recent times, snow and low temperatures have returned, with the Decembers of 2010 reminding us that we can still get very severe conditions here, when synoptics are favourable, with lots of ice and snow.
Once again, if an easterly sets in during the winter months, we know about it here! It can result in a good dumping of snow from instability showers courtesy of the North Sea, up to a foot is quite possible, and days can be dull and dark. This proved to be the case in winter 2009-10 and again in the following winter, when snow remained on the ground for more than a month in places.
The Beast From the East is now a familiar phrase in weather culture.
Durham Weather and Climate since 1841 (video by Prof Tim Burt)
Weather Extremes in Durham City
The warmest overall month in Durham was July 2006 (18.3 degC) and the coldest was February 1855 (-2.2 degC). The wettest month remains December 1876 with 258mm and March 1953 at the other extreme had barely a trace of rain (1mm).
The highest temperature ever recorded in Durham is the 36.9 degC from 19th July 2022, a truly stifling day, and the coldest was -18.3 degC on 8th February 1895. I wasn’t around for that one.
Durham Weather Averages (1981-2010)
