Local Forecasts, History & Records
Notwithstanding a cold December, the year as a whole saw an average mean air temperature of 9.5°C, the 14th equal warmest in 160 years. In this decade only 2000, 2001 and 2008 have been colder. All years this decade are in the top 21 warmest out of 160 years. One very cold month right at the end of 2009 could …
Some of the worst flooding in recent years was experienced in Durham during the very wet July of 2009. The River Wear burst it’s banks in the city and riverside businesses were inundated after more than 2” of rain fell in one day (64.2mm was recorded on the 17th), on top of already saturated ground. The most extraordinary weather episode …
2008 was the equal coldest year (with 2001) at Durham since 1996 (9.3°C). The 12-month average (9.25 to two decimal places) is the lowest since October 2001, and 1.51°C below the maximum 12-month running mean in May 2007. Even so, it was still the 19th warmest year at Durham since 1850! Daytime temperatures were disappointing, in August especially; nevertheless, the …
A beautiful carpet of leaves at Durham Botanic Garden in October 2008. Another incredible feast of colour was to be seen in the ivy
The River Wear in Durham in spate again in mid September 2008. The main wear, normally visible about 4ft above the river is almost totally submerged. The river was 6” away from bursting it’s banks. This was the scene in Croxdale in September 2008 as firemen begin the cleanup process after another flooding episode at The Honest Lawyer Hotel. …
There’s a lot of talk going around about summer 2008 being the ‘worst in living memory’. Well, I hate that phrase, because it is basically worthless. The human memory is horribly fallible when it comes to remembering what happened when, especially regarding the weather. The memory filters out things, depending on the activity being undertaken. It also has no concept …
Tomato Soup Cloud An amazing sunset over Co. Durham. This one was taken from Newton Aycliffe, but could be seen widely. It looked as if someone had poured Tomato Soup into the clouds. The sun is below the horizon, but the clouds are high enough that the sun shines on the bottom of them, illuminating them from below. Latest Cloud …
January 2008 A generally very wet, but mild month, with almost twice the normal amount of rainfall. The total ended up just 0.2mm under the 100mm mark. This eclipsed the previous record for January at Ferryhill by some 35mm. The year started with a very wet New Years Day, with 19mm faliing on the 1st. This would have been the …
2007 was the 4th warmest year at Durham since records began in 1850 (9.83°C), equalling the 1949 figure and a value only exceeded by 2003 (9.88°C), 2006 (9.94°C) and 2004 (9.96°C). The 12-month running mean was above 10°C from January until September; the ‘year’ from June 2006 to May 2007 was the warmest on record at 10.77°C. The mean maximum …
HD Video of giant waves on the seafront at Seaham, Co. Durham. A strong tidal surge in the North Sea resulted in higher than normal tides. A combination of strong winds, extremely low pressure and a storm surge can raise the sea level around Eastern England by up to 2 metres. This footage was filmed on 9th November 2007 by …
June 2007 This month has proved to be quite a wet one, with 80.0mm of rain falling (although 111.8mm recorded in Durham) – not a remarkably high total (146% of the 1971-2000 mean), but considering the first 11 days of the month were completely dry it’s quite noteable. Only two dry days were experienced after that. It could have been …
April 2007 Yet another record breaker, April 2007 was a whopping 0.6 degC warmer than the previous warmest April (1865) on the Central England Temperature series. Again, a long term record beaten. Also noteable is the fact that 2006 was the warmest year on record and the first third of this year is more than 2 degC warmer than the …