April drier and colder than average

After the wettest April on record in 2012, provisional full-month Met Office figures show this April has been slightly drier than average in the UK.

Rainfall throughout the UK was 64 mm this year, compared to the 1981-2010 average of 72.7 mm. That’s considerably less than the 128 mm we saw last year.

There were big regional differences in April rainfall this year. Scotland saw 121.2 mm of rain which is above the 91.1 mm average and Northern Ireland saw 75.2mm, almost spot on the 75.0 mm average.

However, both England and Wales saw well below average rainfall. Wales had 50.3mm, compared to an average of 89.3mm, and England saw 30.4mm, compared to an average of 58.7 mm.

The month was characterised by generally cold and dry weather, following on from the theme set in March. Despite this, April registered as only slightly colder than average with a mean UK temperature of 6.3 °C, which is 1.1 °C below the 7.4 °C long-term average.

This is the same mean temperature as recorded in April 2012. To find a colder April than the last two years, you have to go back to 1989 – which saw a mean temperature of 5.5 °C.

Scotland saw the coldest temperatures compared to country specific averages, with a mean temperature of 4.8 °C, which is 1.3 °C below average – and is the same temperature as recorded in 1998.

The warmest day of the month was 25 April at Faversham in Kent when the temperature recorded was 23.1°C.

In terms of sunshine, Scotland was sunnier than the rest of the UK with hours of sunshine totalling 170.9, followed by Northern Ireland with 168.0, England at 167.7 and Wales at 162.7 hours.

This compares with only 127.9 hours of sunshine in April last year throughout the UK. The sunniest April in the last 10 years was 2007 with 203.5 hours.

	Mean Temperature		Sunshine hours		Rainfall
Apr-13	Actual	Diff to Avg	Actual	Diff to Avg	Actual	Diff to Avg
	degC	degC	hours	%	mm	%
UK	6.3	-1.1	168.4	114	64	88
England	7.2	-0.9	167.7	108	30.4	52
Wales	6.4	-1.2	162.7	105	50.3	56
Scotland	4.8	-1.3	170.9	127	121.2	133
N Ireland	6.5	-1.1	168	115	75.2	100

This week’s snowfall captured by rainfall radar

The rainfall radar network is a great way of looking back at how weather systems affect the UK.

Here we see rainfall radar imagery from 00:00 GMT on Sunday 10 March to 09:00 GMT on Tuesday 12 March. It shows snow showers affecting much of the UK while an area of heavier snowfall affects northern France, the Channel Islands and the far south-east of England.

What’s particularly interesting is that it shows really well how the showers and the heavier snowfall across the south were moving in totally different directions. The snow showers can be seen moving in from the North Sea on north-easterly winds. Meanwhile, the heavier and more persistent snowfall was moving in from the south-west as an area of low pressure tracked across France. You can see how these two systems collided over Sussex and Kent, resulting in the heavy snowfall here.

At the very end of the sequence the wind changes direction again over the north of the UK, with the snow showers being blown across Scotland from the north.

You can see current observations from our rainfall radar on our website.

The worst storm in years?

Various articles in the news today said that the weather over the weekend was the worst storm to hit the UK in years, and that there is more to come this week. There was indeed a very deep area of low pressure in the Atlantic over the weekend. At its deepest, on Saturday 26 January, the central pressure of the depression was 932 millibars and it was sitting some 1,800 nautical miles west of the UK. It came closest to the UK during the day yesterday with a central pressure of 950 millibars but was still around 600 nautical miles to the north west of Scotland.

Satellite image from 26 January 2013

To put this into context, the storm that affected the UK on 3 January 2012 had a central pressure of 953 millibars but was centred right on the west coast of Scotland and brought winds in excess of 80 mph to the Central Belt and a gust of over 100 mph in Edinburgh. Property was damaged, as well as trees, and there was disruption on the road network and with ferry crossings. Power supplies were also affected significantly.

The storm in January 2012 was therefore much more disruptive and severe than any wet and windy weather we have seen so far this year.

Much of the recent severe weather has been attributed to the phrase “Weather Bomb”, which is not a perfect meteorological term but is defined as an intense low pressure system with a central pressure that falls 24 millibars in a 24-hour period. This happened to the depression over the Atlantic during the weekend but as it was miles away from the UK its impacts were minimal. A better description can be more directly linked to the meteorological phenomena known as rapid cyclogenesis. This is where dry air from the stratosphere flows into an area of low pressure. This causes air within the depression to rise very quickly and increases its rotation, which in turn deepens the pressure and creates a more vigorous storm.

How wet has 2012 been? Is it a record breaker?

Provisional figures from the Met Office from 1 January to 26 December 2012 show that some parts of the UK have already had their wettest year on record.

New records have been set in England (1095.8 mm), northern England (1253 mm), E and NE England (1042.1 mm), Midlands (1048.2 mm), and East Anglia (788 mm), in a series that goes back to 1910.

A further 46 mm of rain is needed from 27 to 31 December for this to be the wettest year on record for the UK overall – the UK has had 1291.2 mm of rain from 1 January to 26 December. The wettest year on record for the UK is 2000 with 1337.3 mm.

2012 rainfall anomaly 1 Jan to 26 Dec

In terms of temperature and sunshine the year as a whole is set to be unremarkable, both being around normal. However, overall 2012 is set to be cooler than 2011, but warmer than 2010.

	mean temperature		sunshine duration		precipitation
1 January to 26 December 2012	Actual	Difference from 1981-2010 average	Actual	Percentage of 1981-2010 average	Actual	Percentage of 1981-2010 average
	degC	degC	hours	%	mm	%
UK	8.7	-0.1	1354.1	99	1291.2	112
England	9.5	-0.1	1467.1	98	1095.8	128
Wales	9.1	-0.1	1354.0	97	1649.5	113
Scotland	7.3	-0.1	1186.8	100	1546.3	98
N Ireland	8.9	0.0	1234.0	98	1134.8	100
England & Wales	9.5	-0.1	1451.5	98	1172.2	125
England N	8.7	-0.1	1357.0	99	1253.0	129
England S	9.9	-0.1	1525.4	98	1012.6	128

More about the record breaking year of 2012

Top ten: Coldest Christmas days

Merry Christmas from the Met Office.

The coldest Christmas day on record was in 2010 (and it was also the snowiest) with a minimum temperature of – 18.2 °C recorded at Altnaharra. The chart below shows the top ten minimum temperatures recorded on Christmas day (excluding high level sites).

	Location	Minimum temperature	Date
1	Altnaharra	- 18.2 °C	25/12/2010
2	West Linton	- 15.6 °C	25/12/1981
3	Altnaharra	- 15.5 °C	25/12/2009
4	Altnaharra	- 12.8 °C	25/12/1996
5	Lagganlia	- 9.5 °C	25/12/1973
6	Dalwhinnie	- 9.4 °C	25/12/1995
7	Aboyne	- 9.4 °C	25/12/2006
8	Kindrogan	- 8.8 °C	25/12/1972
9	Glenlivet	- 8.5 °C	25/12/2000
10	Lower Kingcombe	- 8 °C	25/12/1994
10	Tulloch Bridge	- 8 °C	25/12/2005
10	Aboyne	- 8 °C	25/12/2007

Read more top tens.

The meteorology behind the ‘Beast from the East’

Update: See how the weather situation for the coming week has developed over the weekend: How the ‘pest from the west’ will beat the ‘Beast from the East’

The ‘Beast from the East’ – not the Grammy nominated live album of 1988 from heavy rock band Dokken - but the phrase being used to describe what looks set to be some cold and wintry conditions to the UK next week has been mentioned in many newspapers today.

But what actually is the meteorological situation and what is the outlook for next week?

Strictly speaking our weather is not expected to be coming directly from the east next week, but more from the northeast, tracking across the North Sea from Scandinavia, bringing cold north to northeastly winds to our shores. As this cold air moves over the relatively mild North Sea, the air will pick up moisture and become increasing unstable, bringing scattered showers to eastern parts of the country as shown on the chart below.

The showers are most likely across eastern parts of Scotland and northern England on Monday.

Although next week will certainly be very cold, especially compared to a brief respite from the cold conditions over the coming weekend, at the moment it is not expected to be as cold as the bitter conditions we saw back in December 2010 when temperatures fell to -21.3 deg C on 2nd December at Altnaharra in Scotland, which was the lowest December temperature recorded in the UK since 13th December 1995.

Met Office forecasters will be monitoring this developing weather situation throughout the weekend and will update forecasts and warnings. This will ensure the public has access to the latest weather forecasts that will help them prepare, plan and protect themselves from the impacts of the snow and icy conditions expected next week.

Met Office Cold Weather Alerts have been issued for the whole of England as the forecast weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients.

The latest forecasts and warnings can be found on the Met Office website, on our mobile apps and through TV and radio broadcasts on the BBC and ITV.

Related articles

• How the ‘pest from the west’ will beat the ‘Beast from the East’ (metofficenews.wordpress.com)

• Cold weather clue in upper atmosphere (metofficenews.wordpress.com)

• Snow Alert: Cold Weather ‘Beast’ To Hit UK (news.sky.com)
• London to freeze as ‘beast from the East’ weather front moves in (standard.co.uk)
• Get ready for the ‘Beast from the East’: Siberian winds to blast Britain with ice, snow and freezing temperatures after weekend’s respite (dailymail.co.uk)

Last night’s coldest temperatures

As the recent cold spell continues, last night saw some cold temperatures across the UK with widespread frost across parts of the country, with the coldest place being Shap, Cumbria where it fell to -7.0 °C.

The table below shows the top twenty coldest places recorded by the Met Office last night.

SITE NAME	AREA	MIN TEMPERATURE (celsius)
Shap	CUMBRIA	-7.0
Benson	OXFORDSHIRE	-6.7
Braemar	ABERDEENSHIRE	-6.6
Eskdalemuir	DUMFRIESSHIRE	-5.8
Ravensworth	NORTH YORKSHIRE	-5.8
Redesdale Camp	NORTHUMBERLAND	-5.8
Leeming	NORTH YORKSHIRE	-5.7
Carterhouse	ROXBURGHSHIRE	-5.7
Newton Rigg	CUMBRIA	-5.4
Bainbridge	NORTH YORKSHIRE	-5.2
Bridgefoot	CUMBRIA	-5.1
Pershore	HEREFORD & WORCESTER	-5.0
Tyndrum	PERTHSHIRE	-5.0
Keswick	CUMBRIA	-4.9
Hurn	DORSET	-4.8
Spadeadam	CUMBRIA	-4.7
Chillingham Barns	NORTHUMBERLAND	-4.7
Saughall	AYRSHIRE	-4.6
Topcliffe	NORTH YORKSHIRE	-4.6
Aboyne	ABERDEENSHIRE	-4.5

The tables below show a breakdown of the coldest three places for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

England

SITE NAME	AREA	MIN TEMPERATURE (celsius)
Shap	CUMBRIA	-7.0
Benson	OXFORDSHIRE	-6.7
Ravensworth	NORTH YORKSHIRE	-5.8

Scotland

SITE NAME	AREA	MIN TEMPERATURE (celsius)
Braemar	ABERDEENSHIRE	-6.6
Eskdalemuir	DUMFRIESSHIRE	-5.8
Carterhouse	ROXBURGHSHIRE	-5.7

Wales

SITE NAME	AREA	MIN TEMPERATURE (celsius)
Tredegar Bryn Bach Park	GWENT	-3.6
Libanus	POWYS	-3.3
Llysdinam	POWYS	-3.1

Northern Ireland

SITE NAME	AREA	MIN TEMPERATURE (celsius)
Katesbridge	DOWN	-3.5
Aldergrove	ANTRIM	-1.0
Lough Fea	LONDONDERRY	-0.7

The latest forecast from the Met Office shows that it is likely to stay cold with temperatures falling below freezing across many parts of the country over the next couple of night. Temperatures are expected to fall to similar lows tonight, with it perhaps a little colder still on Saturday night.

A full and regularly updated forecast is available on our website.

Awards rain down on weather observers

Last week, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Met office honoured some unsung heroes, as Scotland’s longest serving rainfall observers were presented with awards at a ceremony in Glasgow.

The event hosted at the city’s Royal Concert Hall saw 14 volunteers, from across the country, recognised for their long term contributions to data collection for the national rainfall archive.

SEPA and the Met Office honoured a group of unsung heroes as Scotland’s longest serving rainfall observers were presented with their awards in Glasgow.

The volunteers measure rainfall on a daily basis and send the accumulated figures to SEPA to be included in its database and the Met Office rainfall archive.

The observers have clocked up an impressive 509 years service between them!

Among those honoured included Peter Kennedy who has recorded rainfall at the Doonholm gauge in Alloway, Ayrshire, for 37 years, carrying on a family tradition which began back in 1898 – over 114 years ago. Also picking up awards were Jim and Susan MacColl, of Dunlop in Ayrshire, who have recorded rainfall in memory of Mrs MacColl’s late brother, Alasdair, a trained meteorologist and dedicated rainfall observer.

James Curran, SEPA Chief Executive, said: “The information the observers collect is crucial to a number of nationwide services and the awards are a way of showing our appreciation to the longest serving observers. Some have carried out their duties for nearly half a century and we hope they continue to show the same enthusiasm in the service they provide.”

Christine Duffy, Rainfall Data Manager of the Met Office, said: “The Met Office and SEPA work closely together throughout the year to help minimise the risk that weather and flooding can bring. The rainfall observers provide an invaluable service to both ourselves and SEPA and this is a fantastic event to recognise their commitment and dedication.”

For more information on becoming a rainfall observer, please visit the SEPA website.

Guest Blog: Ready for Winter?

Lynda Nicholson from Scottish Government talks about the launch of this years Ready for winter? Campaign.

Today the Scottish Government launched its new Ready for Winter? campaign designed to get Scotland more prepared for severe weather of all types. Following the cold winters in 2009 and 2010, and a wet summer this year, it’s becoming more apparent that severe weather can strike at any time and not all of us are prepared. 

In fact, new research from the British Red Cross and the Scottish Government showed that only 39% per cent of people said that they were prepared for periods of severe weather, and 76% think they are doing enough to prepare for poor driving conditions with just an ice-scraper and de-icer.

The Ready for Winter? campaign sets out what you really need to do and focuses on how we can get ready at home, at work, in the community and when we’re on the move. It’s not difficult or expensive to get ready, just a few small steps now can save a lot of trouble later. By thinking ahead, acting now and considering the likely consequences for your family, business or neighbourhood, we can make sure fewer people get caught out should severe weather hit.

You can get the latest weather forecasts and warnings from the Met Office so you know when severe weather is expected, taking small steps now means you will be ready when cold weather arrives.

If you want to know more about what you should do, visit Ready Scotland for information and advice.   

 

How wet has this September been?

The latter part of September saw some exceptional rainfall in parts of the UK which caused disruption and flooding at times.

With such a great deal of rain falling in a short period of time, some people have asked whether it will make September one of the wettest in our national records going back to 1910.

Provisional early statistics up to 26 September show this isn’t the case, however, with the month looking set to be slightly wetter than average – but by no means a record breaker.

Up to the 26th, UK rainfall is 96.3 mm – which is 100% of the full month average. After 26 days we would, assuming rain falls fairly evenly through the month, expect this to be around 87%.

Of course, rain doesn’t always fall evenly throughout a month – as we saw this September. The first three weeks saw relatively little rain in many areas, but then a particularly active weather system brought four days of persistent heavy rain.

Northern parts of England were particularly badly affected by this, as you can see in the rainfall map below. In the map you can see a band of blue colours across northern England denoting above average rainfall for the month, whereas much of the country is coloured white to denote near-average amounts.

Two brown areas, one across central Scotland and the other in East Anglia, show it has been drier than average here – even despite the heavy rain in the latter part of the month.

 

Temperatures up to the 26 September are also fairly ordinary, being slightly below average. Mean temperature for the UK is 12.2 °C, which is 0.5 °C below the long-term average for the month.

While September looks set to be slightly wetter and cooler than average, the good news is sunshine hours were slightly up – with the UK having seen 126.1 hours of sunshine, 101% of its whole-month average.

Again, we’d expect it to be around 87% after 26 days, so we’re ahead – but not by a record-breaking amount.

So this September is set to go down as a fairly average month overall, but – as is often the case – this belies some very stark contrasts and some less-than-usual weather.

Met Office provisional 1-26 September figures

	mean temperature		sunshine duration		rainfall
	Actual	Difference from 1981-2010 average	Actual	% of 1981-2010 average	Actual	% of 1981-2010 average
	degC	degC	hours	%	mm	%
UK	12.2	-0.5	126.1	101	96.3	100
England	13.2	-0.5	145.2	106	80.6	116
Wales	12.1	-0.8	124.5	97	115.3	99
Scotland	10.4	-0.5	98.6	94	117.2	86
N Ireland	11.8	-0.5	105.3	93	94.0	103
England & Wales	13.1	-0.5	142.3	105	85.4	112
England N	12.4	-0.4	124.0	98	121.4	150
England S	13.7	-0.5	156.4	110	59.0	93