Climate summaries

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

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UK last month

October 2019

October began with a warm showery day in the south, and while colder air quickly spread from the north followed by a transient ridge of high pressure, low pressure and associated fronts returned by the 4th. Until the 20th the weather was unsettled with frequent low pressure systems and rain belts crossing the country, and the jet stream was further south than normal, resulting in frontal systems often especially affecting the south and east of England. There was a quieter interlude from the 21st to 23rd, and then after a very wet spell on the 24th to 26th. The weather turned cold, dry and sunny for most of the country from the 27th to 30th, although the far south-west remained very wet at times.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 9.0 °C, which is 0.5 °C below the 1981-2010 long-term average. Both mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures were within 0.5 °C of the long-term average in the south, but were between 0.5 °C and 1.0 °C below over much of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England. Rainfall was 109% of average, and it was a wet month over most of England and Wales with some parts of eastern England, notably in Yorkshire, and also the far south-west, having more than twice the normal rainfall, but in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Cumbria it was generally drier than average. Sunshine was 95% of average, and sunshine was below normal over most of England and Wales but above normal in most parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland, Cumbria and north Lancashire.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 21.3 °C was recorded at Trawsgoed (Dyfed) on the 1st. A minimum temperature of -6.2 °C was recorded at Altnaharra (Sutherland) on the 31st. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT on the 26th, 101.0 mm of rain fell at Lebanus (Powys). A wind gust of 66 knots (76 mph) was recorded at the Needles (Isle of Wight) on the 18th.

Regional values for October 2019