UK Climate/Monthly climate summaries/October 1996

The UK in October 1996: Michael Hulme on last month's weather

Daytime temperatures
For the fifth successive month, daytime temperatures over the UK were above average, in October by about 0.7°C. The largest anomalies were generally over Scotland and the north of England. There were several days in the second half of the month when the nationwide average temperature topped 16°C, more than 2.5°C warmer than the average.

Rainfall
The nationwide rainfall total was 21% above the October average and there was a large difference between the north and south of the country. Much of Scotland and northwest England was much wetter than usual, whereas parts of the south and east recorded rainfall between 5% and 25% below average. The 27th and 28th were both very wet days with more than 9mm of rain falling nationwide.

Sunshine
As with temperature, October was the fifth successive month with sunshine totals in the UK above average. The only regions of the country to lose out were some western locations, such as Exmouth, Anglesey and Belfast. In contrast to September, the east of the country enjoyed the greatest sunshine anomaly. Skegness, for example, recorded 44% and Folkstone 23% more sunshine than usual during October. This was the fourth successive October in the UK with above average sunshine totals.

Dr Mike Hulme is a Research Climatologist at the University of East Anglia

October 1996: mild, wet in Scotland

Mean monthly extremes