Datasets/UK Climate/Monthly climate summaries

Datasets/UK Climate/Monthly climate summaries

(Last updated 5 January 2002)

Mike Hulme supplied monthly climate summaries for the UK to The Guardian newspaper from April 1988 to 2001. These were usually published in the newspaper on the first Monday of each month. These summaries are available on this web page, together with yearly tables of the monthly anomalies for past years and for the year (2001) to date.

Month-by-month anomalies for 1995

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

+0.5

+41

0

February

+2.0

+55

+7

March

0.0

+17

+23

April

+0.5

0

+1

May

+0.8

-19

+9

June

+0.5

-53

+7

July

+2.8

-33

+25

August

+4.1

-81

+53

September

+0.3

+48

+4

October

+2.1

+10

+16

November

+1.1

-17

+10

December

-2.5

-26

+1

Annual

+1.0

-5

+15

Month-by-month anomalies for 1996

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

0.0

-31

-52

Dry and cloudy
February

-1.0

+28

+23

Cold, wet and sunny
March

-1.6

-21

-36

Cold, dry and cloudy
April

+0.4

0

-10

Cloudy
May

-1.8

0

-1

Cold
June

+0.8

-50

+19

Sunny and very dry
July

+0.8

-31

+12

Dry and rather warm
August

+1.1

+8

+7

Warm, sunny and thundery
September

+0.4

-60

+19

Mild, sunny and very dry
October

+0.7

+21

+5

Mild, wet in Scotland
November

-1.2

+37

+36

Cold, wet and sunny
December

-1.9

-28

+12

Dull and cold
Annual

-0.1

-8

+3

Month-by-month anomalies for 1997

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

-1.1

-70

-1

Dry and cloudy
February

+2.2

+74

+3

Very mild, wet and windy
March

+2.6

-31

+5

Very mild and mostly dry
April

+1.3

-41

-3

Mild and dry
May

+0.2

+25

+17

Sunny, cool in the north
June

-0.6

+65

-26

Cloudy, very wet in England
July

+1.2

-26

+17

Dry and quite warm
August

+2.8

-4

+16

Very hot
September

+0.8

-48

+24

Dry and very sunny
October

+0.3

-21

+27

Sunny, warm in the south
November

+1.6

+25

-18

Mild, cloudy and quite wet
December

+0.7

+20

-7

Rather wet and mild
Annual

+1.0

-4

+5

Month-by-month anomalies for 1998

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

+1.0

+27

+7

Mild and wet
February

+3.5

-33

+2

Very mild, dry except for the NW
March

+1.7

+35

-24

Mild, wet and cloudy
April

-0.5

+102

-9

Very wet and rather cool
May

+1.5

-47

+5

Warm and very dry
June

-0.5

+74

-16

Very wet, rather cool and cloudy
July

-0.7

+24

-24

Cool, dull and rather wet
August

+0.2

-29

+10

Rather dry and sunny
September

+0.6

+7

-3

Mild, wet in the south
October

-0.8

+68

+8

Very wet and rather cool
November

-0.5

+2

+37

Very sunny and rather cool
December

+0.3

0

+4

An average month
Annual

+0.5

+15

-5

Month-by-month anomalies for 1999

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

+1.1

+52

+15

Very wet and quite mild
February

+0.7

+10

+42

Very sunny and rather mild
March

+1.5

+16

+14

Mild, wet and sunny
April

+0.9

+49

+1

Mild and very wet
May

+1.2

0

-5

Mild, wet in Scotland
June

-0.6

+37

-4

Rather wet, cool in north
July

+1.3

-36

+14

Warm, dry and sunny, except in northern Scotland
August

+0.4

+30

+6

Dry and sunny in Scotland, wet and cloudy in England & Wales
September

+1.7

+38

+9

Wet and very warm
October

+0.2

-9

+18

Very sunny in England, rather dry and mild
November

+0.8

-22

+15

Mild, sunny and rather dry
December

-0.9

+58

+35

Cold, sunny and very wet
Annual

+0.7

+17

+8

Month-by-month anomalies for 2000

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

+1.1

-31

+29

Mild, sunny and dry
February

+1.9

+32

+24

Mild, wet and sunny
March

+1.6

-33

+2

Mild and dry
April

-0.7

+126

-9

Cool and very wet
May

+0.9

+28

+17

Warm, sunny and wet
June

-0.1

-16

-12

Warm in the south, cool in the north
July

-0.7

-18

-9

Cool in the east, dry in Scotland
August

+1.0

-21

+16

Warm, dry and sunny
September

+0.7

+55

-8

Wet, but mild
October

-0.3

+86

+9

Very wet, especially in the south
November

-0.1

+79

+9

Very wet, especially in the south
December

+0.6

+63

+9

Very wet, mild at first
Annual

+0.7

+37

+3

A warm and very wet year

Month-by-month anomalies for 2001

Month Daytime temp (°C) Rainfall (%) Sunshine(%) Brief description
January

-0.2

+1

+54

Very sunny, wet in the south
February

+0.4

+50

+25

Wet and mild in the south; sunny elsewhere
March

-0.9

+63

-1

Cloudy and wet in the south; cool everywhere
April

-0.4

+56

+3

Cool and wet, but dry in Scotland
May

+1.5

-38

+19

Rather warm, sunny and dry
June

-0.3

-31

-7

Dry; warm and sunny in south
July

+0.4

+9

-5

A rather average month; cool in north
August

+0.7

+12

+4

Rather warm; on the wet side
September

-0.5

-11

-10

Cool; wet in the east
October

+1.9

+47

+1

Wet and very mild
November

+0.6

-31

-1

Rather mild and dry; sunny in the south
December

-0.9

-34

+64

Very sunny and dry; rather cold
Annual

+0.1

+7

+4

An average year; slightly wet

[Anomalies are with respect to the 1951-80 average]