Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

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UK last month

December 2023

The cold snap in late November extended though the first week of December, with some very hard frosts (-4.7°C at Culdrose, Cornwall on 2nd and -12.5°C at Altnaharra, Sutherland on 3rd). Snow caused significant disruption across northern England on 3rd, with parts of the Lake District badly affected (for example the Ambleside area). The cold weather was swept away on 9th to 10th by storms Elin and Fergus which brought very wet, windy and disruptive weather - but much milder Atlantic air, including some exceptionally mild nights. Thereafter the weather continued very mild through most of the month, except across the far north, dull and wet at times with persistent rain from a succession of Atlantic fronts and mounting rainfall accumulations. The UK recorded its highest daily minimum temperature on record on Christmas Day with 12.4°C at Exeter Airport and East Malling, Kent. The month ended with a spell of very unsettled, turbulent weather. Storm Gerrit on 27th to 29th brought further strong winds and heavy rain, with significant disruptive snow falls across Highland Scotland and winds gusting at over 70Kt (81mph) at a number of stations. The year closed out with yet another Atlantic low pressure system bringing further very wet and windy weather. Overall, Scotland bore the brunt of the worst of the weather over the course of the month.

Temperatures for December were above average across the whole of the UK except northern Scotland, with anomalies mostly around 1.5 to 2.0°C. This was the fifth / equal-fifth warmest December for England and Wales in respective series from 1884. It was a particularly mild December for the southern half of England and Wales with minimum temperature anomalies of over 2.5°C, and very few frosts after the first week of the month. This was the equal-eighth wettest December for the UK in a series from 1836, and fourth-wettest for Northern England. Parts of central and north-east England, and much of north-east Scotland recorded more than twice the normal rainfall; areas that could well have done without further rain after a very wet October (the wettest on record for eastern Scotland). Apart from north-west Scotland, this was a dull month, with less than two-thirds of normal sunshine for the UK overall - representing less than one hour per day on average in most areas. Southern England provisionally recorded a mere 26.6 hours, only 50% of the 1991-2020 long term average.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 16.1°C was recorded at Rhyl (Denbighshire) on the 23rd. A minimum temperature of -12.5°C was recorded at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 3rd. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 17th, 118.8 mm of rain fell at Kinlochewe (Ross & Cromarty). A wind gust of 77 knots (89 mph) was recorded at Fair Isle (Shetland) on the 27th. A snow depth of 11cm was recorded at Copley (County Durham) and Middleton (Derbyshire) at 0900 UTC on the 3rd.

Regional values for December 2023