The UK in January
Mike Hulme on last month’s weather
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
The third millennium started
with a mild and very wet day in the UK, with daytime temperatures between 2 and
3C milder than usual. Temperatures
thereafter remained fairly close to the monthly average, with the exception of
a cold third week between the 15th and 21st. The north of the country was rather colder
than the south, relative to the normal monthly pattern, and overall January
2001 was just slightly (0.2C) below average – the coldest January since
1997. Lerwick in the Shetlands was as
warm as Birmingham, at least during the daytime. UK temperatures during the 2000/01 winter have so far been close
to the long-term average.
RAINFALL
January started and ended
with heavy rainfall across the country, but the middle two weeks were very dry
– virtually no rain fell anywhere in the country between the 13th
and 17th. So, after four
successive very wet months, rainfall in the UK was close to average during
January. The distribution of rainfall,
however, was not even and southern England again recorded rainfall well above
normal. Exmouth, Folkestone, Bournemouth and Guernsey, for example, all
recorded more January rainfall than most of Scotland – unusual for January. Guernsey recorded more than twice its
average total and was substantially wetter even than Eskdalemuir. In contract, Kinloss in the north of
Scotland barely received a third of its usual January rainfall.
SUNSHINE
The sequence of sunny winter
months continued into January, making it the fourth successive month with UK
sunshine above average. Indeed, with a
nationwide average of about 2.5 hours of sunshine per day – 50% higher than
normal – January 2001 was the sunniest January for several decades. The whole country enjoyed this sunshine, no
more so than Skegness and Folkestone which both averaged between 3 and 4 hours
per day, nearly twice their monthly normal.
The 6.4 hours of sunshine the country enjoyed on the 14th
January is equivalent to the sunshine recorded on an average July day. January UK sunshine totals have now been
above the average for five successive years.
Dr Mike Hulme is a Director
of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, at UEA
(more details at website at
www.tyndall.ac.uk)
January 2001: Very sunny, wet in the south
Daytime Temperature: 0.2C below average; Rainfall: 1% above average; Sunshine: 54% above average.
[all average figures are
based on the 1951-80 average]
Mean monthly extremes:
Warmest Guernsey 9.8C
Sunniest Folkestone 117 hours
sun
Wettest Guernsey 224mm
Coldest Eskdalemuir 4.0C
Cloudiest Lerwick 43 hours sun
Driest Kinloss 17mm