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