Climate summaries

These web pages are a source of information for those interested in the climate of the UK. The pages are updated each month to reflect the latest month's weather across the UK. A timetable for publication of the climate summaries is available below.

Timing of summaries and statistics

Those interested in climate change and predictions of future climates should also visit the Climate Change pages.

UK last month

October 2016

On the first day of the month a shallow depression tracked east across Wales and then England, bringing some rain, but after that all parts of the UK became predominantly dry, as high pressure took charge. For much of the time the high was centred over Scandinavia, bringing easterly winds, and restricting temperatures to near the seasonal average but with plenty of sunshine, especially in western areas. As the second week of the month progressed, increasing numbers of showers encroached from the east, and around 15th-17th the weather was more generally unsettled with a depression making its influence felt. Thereafter there was again a build of pressure, giving mostly fine weather, though fog affected parts of England and Wales, particularly in the south, while frontal systems affected north-west Scotland as the month approached its end. The last four days of the month were notably mild over much of England & Wales

The provisional UK mean temperature was 9.8 °C, which is 0.3 °C above the 1981-2010 long-term average.Mean maximum temperatures were a little above average in the north-west, and mean minimum temperatures were a little above average in north-east England, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. It was a dry October with just 38% of average rainfall overall and the sixth driest October in a series from 1910. However rainfall totals were closer to average in coastal parts of eastern Scotland, north-east England, Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Sunshine was mostly near average in the east and above average in the west, and it was exceptionally sunny in northern Scotland which recorded its sunniest October on record in a series from 1929.The UK as a whole had 117% of average sunshine.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 22.2 °C was recorded at Trawscoed (Dyfed) on the 31st. A minimum temperature of -5.0 °C was recorded at Tulloch Bridge (Inverness-shire) on the 25th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT on the 14th, 49.8 mm of rain fell at Killylane (Antrim). A wind gust of 56 knots (64 mph) was recorded at Sella Ness (Shetland) on the 28th.

October 2016 | Regional values - October 2016