2004 Yearly Weather Summary – Remarkably warm in Durham

2004 summary graphic

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.

Bill Foggitt with his dog

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

Howhill - during and after the blizzard of 28th January 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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