2004 Yearly Weather Summary – Remarkably warm in Durham

2004 was another remarkably warm year, the warmest on record at Durham since records began in 1850, the mean of 9.95°C beating the previous highest (2003) by 0.05°C. It was quite a wet year too, the total of 726mm ranking 110th in a series of 153. There were far fewer hours of bright sunshine than normal, however; the total was …

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Amateur Weather Forecaster Bill Foggitt dies aged 91.

Amateur weather forecaster Foggitt dies World-renowned amateur weather forecaster Bill Foggitt has died in hospital at the age of 91. Mr Foggitt’s unconventional methods – using signs in nature rather than science for his predictions – made him the scourge of professionals but alegend among the masses. One of the high points of his career came when the Association of Science …

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Very wet 2 day period in Durham – August 9th+10th 2004

After a really warm night on 9th August 2004 (minimum was 19.9 degC) at my weather station in Ferryhill, the next two days were extraordinarily wet. In fact the whole month was a soggy mess and about as bad as a month can get in summer. Midnight-midnight 9th   August 37.2mm 10th August 30.4mm Two consecutive days with > 30mm …

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Ferocious Cold Front brings a Blizzard – 28th Jan 2004

After several days of speculation, the cold front eventually arrived, revealing the true power of the Arctic airstream we’d been promised. The temperature fell from +1.5 degC at noon to -2.0 degC at 1pm, with a ferocious blizzard of fine powder snow. This is probably the most impressive cold front passage since the mid 80’s, with additions to the lying …

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