Summer 2026: Hottest this century; one to remember!
Posted at 16:30 on 1st September 2026
For the last 50 years, many spoke of 1976 as the benchmark for hot summers - I am plenty old enough to have my own memories of that year.
However, it is safe to say thay this summer has blown 1976 out of the water both locally and nationally, with a few places having recorded no rain at all in 2 months at one stage.
Here are the numbers:
The mean temperature for Summer 2026 was 20.2°C. This is a truly remarkable figure, given that only last year was previously the warmest of the century at 18.9°C. This year has beaten that by 1.3°C, which is a huge margin.
The mean this century for summer is 17.2°C, so that was beaten by 3 whole °C.
What was also remarkable was the sheer persistence of the warmth. over the summer as a whole (and I include the last week of May in this even though it's meterologically still spring) we had daytime maxima of:-
35 hot (>26.7°C, the old 80°F) days.
12 days reaching or exceeding 30°C. A further 6 days exceeded 29.5°C or greater.
2 days exceeding 32°C (the old 90°F)
The station temperature record being broken at 34.5°C in late June.
To put those in context, only 2003 had as many as six days over 30°C, followed by 2020 (4) and 2024 (3)
For "hot" >80°F days, prior to this year, 2018 led the way with 16 days, followed by 2013 with 13 days. 35 such days is remarkable.
Every day from the 18th June exceeded 21°C, except 29th August which still managed 19.9 despite an Atlantic low bringing autumnal wind and rain.
It is easy to forget that the first 10 days of June were terrible - temperatures well below average and a month-and a half's rain. We were fortunate that the late May Bank holiday fell very early (25th) this year;.had it been on the 31st, half-term week would have been a complete write-off.
Rainfall totalled 118.8mm, which is 77% of normal for summer here... overall slightly drier than usual, but that doeeant tell the whole story, of course.
All but 3.6mm of that rain fell in the first 10 days of June (64.4mm) and in the 2nd half of August in 2 wet spells of 3 days each.
The middle 9 weeks of the season was pretty much bone dry as vegetation suffered.
There was not much thunder - one intense thunderstorm in terms of lightning during the late June heatwave (but gave very little rain - 1mm - here) and a thundery shower on August 20th.
oooOOOooo
August 2026: Hottest this century, rainfall average
Posted at 16:00 on 1st September 2026
Well.. August 2026 was the hottest this century. The month started on the hot and dry theme that dominated this summer, but a more changeable second half of the month resulted with rainfall coming out at exactly average.
Temperatures:
Highest 30.9°C (14th)
Lowest 11.1°C (22nd)
Average Max 25.2°C (+3.6°C)
Average Min 16.7°C (+1.9°C)
Mean for month 21.9°C (+2.6°C)
This was the hottest August this century. The mean of 20.3°C exceeded the previous hottest (2022) which was 20.0°C, and before July, would have been the hottest month this century (for all months).
It was also the 7th month in a row to be significantly (2°C+) warmer than usual, only January this year was close to average in terms of temperature.
There was a further heatwave (3 ore more days in a row exceeding 26.7°C) to add to the three previous ones this year.
Daytime warmth was pretty consistent - the average day maximum for August is 21.6°C, however only two days failed to reach that mark, one of those being Saturday 29th which despite the wind, cloud and rain still managed 19.9°C. In a weather setup such that we had on that day in late August, one would normally expect ahout 16°C or so!
We had nine days exceeding the old 80°F mark (26.7°C), and the 14th became the twelth day this year to reach or exceed 30°C. Previously, only 2003 had managed as many as six.More on that in the Summer summary.
Another stat of interest is the rolling annual mean temperature.The average is 11.7°C here, however recent years have clearly trended warmer. Before 2022 no year had achieved 12.5°C, but now every year since has done so, with the highest being 12.8°C.
The current rolling annual mean temperature is currently.... 13.5°C!
Rainfall
Total for month 53.4mm (100.2%
Wet days (>0.2mm) 5
Wettest day 28th (15.4mm)
Rainfall year-to-date: 494.8mm (110%)
As previously mentioned, all the rain came in the 2nd half of the month, being concentrated into 2 groups of 3 days each about a week apart.One day (20th) produced thunder as a thundery shower passed through, giving around 9mm of rain ina 5 minute spell. To put that into context, that is three times as much rain as fell in over 2 months, between 11th June and 18th August!
The 28th August brought the first Atlantic low pressure system since the first 10 days of June.
oooOOOooo
Proper rain at last! Plus August latest....
Posted at 10:30 on 19th August 2026
Breaking news.... we have had some proper rain for the first time in over two months, breaking the long dry spell.
9.8mm of rain fell since 3am this morning.
The last time we had more than about 1mm of rain was the 10th June when 6.8mm fell, and 7th June saw 10.6mm.
In that period since 11th June, just 3.4mm fell, with 2 days (16th June and 25th July) seeing 1mm. I cannot remember such a long period with such minimal rainfall.
I am trying to obtain rainfall numbers for the summer of 1976, but I do remember an unsettled spell in late July between the two major heatwaves that occurred that year.
So where are we with temperatures this August so far? As of 9am this morning, August is running a mean temperature of 21.5°C and an average maximum of 26.8°C.
The August record mean for this century is 20.0°C, so we are currently well above that. It remains to be seen whether we will break that this year - we'd need a mean temp of 18.2c or higher for the remaining days to do so.
It is now certain to be the hottest summer this century (only a mean of below 10°C for the rest of this month can stop that. Out of the question!) . Last year holds that record at 18.9°C.
Currently, this summer stands at 20.4°C - there is a good chance that we will end up at or above 20°C for the whole season by the end of this month, which would be incredible.The rest of August would need to come out at 17.6 for a mean temperature, which is pretty close to average. Whatever, another much warmer month than average is almost certain, will be the 7th in a row with an anomaly of +2°C or greater.
I t does now look like the remaining days of August will be (at least) rather less settled than we have been used to, but still with the possibility of some warm days. Model output is not giving any solid guidance beyond that, so we shall see...
oooOOOooo
July 2026: Hottest month this century, almost completely dry
Posted at 10:00 on 1st August 2026
Well.. July 2026 will live long in the memory, and will no doubt be spoken about in a similar way to 1976 in the years to come.
It came in as the hottest month this century, and not by a small margin! It was also (almost!) completely dry, with only a short shower bringing in 1mm preventing a completely rainless month.
The month was also extremely sunny. I don't record sunshine here, but subject to final confirmation, it looks like Bournemouth Hurn Airport may have broken the national record for sunshine for any month by about 10 hours, beating Eastbourne's record of 383.9 hours which has stood since July 1911.
Temperatures:
Highest 31.4°C (11th and 12th)
Lowest 13.3°C (2nd)
Average Max 27.3°C (+5.5°C)
Average Min 16.7°C (+2.7°C)
Mean for month 21.9°C (+4.0°C)
The July mean maximum temperature is 21.8°C. Every day this month exceeded that; no day failed to reach 22°C.
6 days exceeded 30°C, the third month in a row to exceed that mark. That has not happened before.
16 days exceeded the "hot day" mark of 26.7°C/ 80°F
25 days exceeded 25°C.. a mark exceeded just once in the entire summer of 2007.
In terms of night minima, these averaged the highest of any month this century- the previous warmest was 16.0°C (July 2018)
This was the hottest month overall this century - not just beating, but obliterating July 2018 (20.2°C) by 1.7°C (a big margin)
This was also the sixth month in a row to be significantly warmeer than average - all six being close to or exceeding a +2°C anomaly.
This was also, as far as I cen tell, just the 2nd month this century where this month's mean (21.9°C) was higher than the monthly average daytime maxima (21.8°C), the previous example being the ridiculously mild December 2015.
I have also looked at the rolling annual mean temperature, in this case 1st August 2025 up to yesterday.
This rolling annual mean temperature stands at 13.3°C. Using this same measure, no calendar year this century reached as high as 12.5°C until 2022.(The average is 11.8°C)
Every year since has done so, 2022/3/4/5.
The current rolling annual mean stands at 13.3°C, exceeding the average by 1.5°C, and 2022's 12.8°C by half a degree. These are remarkable numbers when averaged over a period of that length.
With the seas around the UK being so warm, it is likely to continue to be significantly warmer than average in August, and perhaps September as well.
A good example of this was the last Sunday of the month.
Around 9am, very blustery winds from just north of west, with a rain shower passing through. I would expect the temperature at that time of day under those conditions to be around 14-16c in late July.
Nope. Around 22c, with a drop of a degree or so as the shower passed through.
Even the last day of the month peaked at 26.1°C despite northwesterly winds behind a clearing (weak) cold front.
Rainfall:
Total rain 1.0mm (1.9%)
..All of which fell at breakfast time on the 26th. Many places locally missed this rain and will have recorded an entirely rainless month.
Not quite a record here, as July 2018 recorded 0.8mm.
The year-to-date rainfall stands at 441.4mm (111.4%), still above average, thanks mainly to a very wet first seven weeks of the year.
oooOOOooo
Heatwave No.3 in numbers: Longest heatwave this century
Posted at 10:30 on 19th July 2026
Well.. as everyone is in no doubt aware, we have been in the grip of a prolonged heatwave - the third this summer, and the longest since the famous summer of 1976
It now looks like that heatwave came to an end yesterday, with today's high looking like 26.2°C
In this post, I will look at what I consider contitutes a heatwave, look back at previous heatwaves this century, and look at the numbers behind this one.
So.. what constitutes a heatwave?
The Met Office defines a heatwave as three successive days where the temperature reaches or exceeced a certain threshold. That threshold varies depending on where in the country you are; a hot day in Scotland, for example, would not be considered hot in London, as London is warmer in general.
In a previous post, I mentioned that I regard a "hot day" here at reaching or exceeding the old 80° Fahrenheit, which is 26.7°C. Therefore, what constitutes a heatwave here, in my book, is three or more successive days where the temperature reaches or exceeds 80°F / 26.7°C.
I went back through my records to look at previous heatwaves where that condition was met.
The table below shows the dates, with the daytime maximum temperatures during each run:
2003 4-Aug to 7-Aug
28.3
30.5
33.3
32.8
*
2003 9-Aug to 12-Aug
29.2
32.7
30.1
32.5
2006 2-Jul to 4-Jul
29.4
29.3
26.8
2006 16-Jul to 19-Jul
27.1
28.7
30.4
30.7
2013 07-Jul to 10-Jul
27.6
28.7
27.8
27.8
2013 13-Jul to 15-Jul
28.2
27.8
27.3
*
2013 17-Jul to 21-Jul
27.1
29.1
28.6
27.1
27.6
2014 22-Jul to 26-Jul
28.9
28.2
29.9
28.2
29.3
2017 19-Jul to 21 Jul
28.8
30
27.6
2018 28-Jun to 02-Jul
28.5
28.5
27.8
28.7
31.2
2018 06-Jul to 08-Jul
28.6
28.2
28.9
2018 24-Jul to 26-Jul
27.2
27.7
26.7
2020 07-Aug to 09-Aug
29.6
31.3
30.2
2020 11-Aug to 13-Aug
30.2
30.2
28.3
2021 16-Jul to 22-Jul
27.1
28.1
28.3
28.7
28.6
27.8
27.1
2022 10-Aug to 14-Aug
29
31.2
31.3
29.9
29.2
2023 03-Sep to 09-Sep
26.9
27.9
28.1
27.3
28.4
26.9
28.9
2024 30-Jul to 01-Aug
30.3
30.4
30.5
2026 24-May to 27-May
28.1
30.4
28.7
29.7
2026 21-Jun to 26-Jun
27.8
31.2
29.6
33.6
34.5
26.8
2026 06-Jul to 17-Jul
29.6
30.9
30.2
30.1
29.9
31.4
30.9
29.8
28.9
30.2
29.1
28.1
It is true to say one can do anything with statistics... however I have picked out some numbers from the list of heatwaves and how they compare to this last one.
This heatwave lasted 12 days, and each day exceeded the "heatwave threshold" by between 2 and nearly 5°C
In 2003 and 2013 we came close to having nine-day heatwaves, with one day below 26.7°C (marked with an asterisk) breaking the runs on each occasion.
Another thing to note is that if one considers those pairs as one, we have has 19 heatwaves this century.
In the first 13 years, we had only three.and a run of six summers 2007-12 without a single one.
In the 13 years following, there have been sixteen.
The three in 2013 all came within a 15-day spell, so that is probably the closest comparison with July 2026, however, look at the maxima during the two periods.
2013 managed one day over 29°C, this last spell had only two days out of the 12 NOT to reach 29°C, and six days exceeded 30°C.
12 days in total have reached or exceeded 30°C in 2026, twice the number of 2003 which is next on the list of 30°C+ days with 6.
This year has also seen 22 "hot" days at or above the 26.7°C mark.. six more than the nearest challenger of 2018.
And it's still only just past mid-July!
The 4-week period between 21st June and 19th July was particuklarly remarkable. That encompassed Heatwaves 2 and 3 and the less hot period in between.
The mean temperature between those dates, this century is 18.4°C.
This year, the mean was a staggering 23.0°C (+4.6) and a mean maximum of 28.3°C. The nearest challenger is 2018 with a mean of 19.9°C cflosely followed by 2025's 19.8°C
We do look to be at the start of a protracted less-hot peiod now - as it stands, it could well be much cooler and unsettled by next weekend 25th/26th.. (yeah, I know, just as the kids break up from school!), but that is a week away and time will tell if this more unsettled signal "sticks" and whether it will be for an extended period or not.
I remember 1976, and the August that followed was fine, warm and rainless (until the Bank Holiday!) with another heatwave part-way through, following the hot July.. however I also remember the hot Julys of 2006 and 2018 were followed by rather disappointing Augusts. We shall see!
oooOOOooo
June 2026: Cool, wet start, historic heatwave to end...
Posted at 09:15 on 3rd July 2026
June 2026 was a remarkable month, it began with a cool and very wet first 11 days, then a recovery to very dry with average temperatures, followed by a remarkable and record breaking heatwave during the last 10 days.
Temperatures:
Highest 34.5°C (25th)
Lowest 10.1°C (9th)
Average Max 22.2°C (+2.0°C)
Average Min 15.2°C (+2.7°C)
Mean for month 18.3°C (+2.1°C)
This was the 2nd warmest June this century, only 2023 was warmer (18.7°C)
This was also the fifth month in a row to be significantly warmeer than average - all five being close to or exceeding a +2°C anomaly.
The month had a cool start, and a very hot end with the hottest June day this century being set on three days out of four, and the hottest day for any month being set on two of those.
The previous June mark of 30.0°C was exceeded on the 22nd (31.2°C) then the previous hottest day (33.3°C in 2003) was exceeded on the 24th (33.6°C) and again the next day with 34.5°C.
There were also 4 "tropical, (i.e. minimum at or exceeding 20°C) nights with the previous June record broken 5 nights in a row - 19.1, 21.4, 22.7, 23.3, 23.2°C. Only one night this century was warmer, 23.8°C in 2022.
On average, June shows a warming trend as we go through the month as the sea warms up- the average for the first 11 days is 15.27°C; the average for the last 11 days is 17.06°C
The relevant averages for this year was 14.6°C up to the 11th, and from the 20th-30th the average temperature was 23.0°C, a huge anomaly of 6°C!
Nationally, the June temperature record was broken on three succeesive days, with a high of 37.7°C being recorded at Lingwood, Norfolk. At Bournemouth airport, the all time temperature record fell on two successive days with a high of 36.1°C on the 25th.
Rainfall
Month: 64.4mm (142% of normal)
Wettest day 1st, with 16.0mm
Precipitation (> 0.2mm) was recorded on 13 days, and on the first 11 days of the month. Only 2.4mm fell after the 11th
Year to date rainfall 440.4mm (128%) so far this year.
oooOOOooo
Heatwave !! Hottest day this Century in Springbourne :: Hurn breaks record.
Posted at 17:00 on 24th June 2026
This week in weather has been a remarkable one so far, with the highest temperature I have yet recorded at this location over 26 years.
For the second time in as many months, the hottest day and warmest night at this station for the current month were recorded, and in June's case, on two occasions.
On Monday (22nd) I recorded the warmest June day this century with a maximum of 31.2°C - passing the previous high of 30.0°C set in 2017
Monday night into Tuesday was the warmest June night at 21.4°C
Tuesday saw a slightly less hot day with a keen easterly wind which had a slight onshore component. Temperatures dipped from 28°C to around 25c at mid-day but recovered to record a max of 29.6°C°C just after 6pm. (A statistical quirk due to the standard 9am-9am meterological day means that Tuesday's max goes down as 31.2°C, which was the temperature at 9am GMT on Wednesday!)
The overnight minimum was 22.7°C, again setting a record for the warmest June night, and many placees around the country saw their June minimum records broken.
Wednesday saw temperatures rocket, with the wind a light-moderate northerly, and peaked at 33.6°C. This beat the previous station record of 33.3°C set in August 2003, and became only the 6th day to exceed 32°C (90°F, which I always regarded as the benchmark for truly exceptional heat. A weak sea breeze then saved us from suffering a 35°C max!
A little further inland, Hurn Airport also had their hottest day since records begain, the max there was 35.2°C, beating the 34.1°C in August 190, and the previous June record of 33.8°C set in THAT summer of 1976.Their records go back to the 1950s.
Nationally, the June record set in 1976 of 35.6 set in Southampton fell at several locations.. at the time of writing, Gosport in Hants takes the crown at 36.1°C.
oooOOOooo
May 2026: Warmer than average overall, with half the normal rainfall
Posted at 14:00 on 1st June 2026
May 2026:
The month was average overall up until the 23rd when a specacular heatwave meant that May ended up being the warmest of the century.
The month was also quite dry locally with half the normal rainfall.
There was a spectacular thunderstorm just before midnight on the 27th, which only produced just under 3mm here. Some areas of Bournemouth reported grape-sized hail - no hail fell here.Another feature of this storm was that most of the rain that fell from a relatively high cloud base actually evaporated before it reached the ground. Radar accumulation rerurns indicate we should have had ~20mm here, but just 2.8mm actually reached the ground.
Temperatures:
Highest 30,4°C (29th)
Lowest 4.8°C (11th)
Average Max 19.7°C (+2.5°C)
Average Min 11.4°C (+2.1°C)
Mean for month 15.6°C (+2.4°C)
This was the warmest May this century, by a margin of 0.6°C
This was also the fourth month in a row to be significantly warmeer than average - all four being close to or exceeding a +2°C anomaly.
I will cover Spring as a whole in a separate post, but a quick check indicates that it was the warmest this century (12.5°C), beating last year's by 0.5°C
Rainfall
Month: 26.0mm (50.7% of normal)
Wettest day 2nd with 7.0mm
Precipitation (> 0.2mm) was recorded on 10 days.
Year to date rainfall 376mm (126%) so far this year. Still well above normal, but continuing to drop with the much drier weather since 12th March..
A feature of the month was the showery nature of most of the rain that did fall. We missed much of it here, other places locally may well have had 75-100mm of rain after getting a direct hit from torrential showers and the thunderstorm on the 27th.
oooOOOooo
The Great May 2026 Heatwave in numbers
Posted at 15:30 on Friday 29th May 2026
As everyone is no doubt aware, we have been in the grip of a remarkable and historic heatwave over the Bank Holiday Weekend, and during this week.
I thought I'd put some local perspective on it.
To put things into perspective, prior to this year, the May record here (going back to 2000) was 28.3°C recorded in May 2012. The late May heatwave that year came during an otherwise protracted and notoriously cold and wet spell that began in early April and continued until mid July, ruining much of Spring and early Summer that year. I digress...
Bank Holiday Monday this yeae was the hottest Bank holiday in recorded history. The national May temperature record (32.3°C) that had stood for decades was smashed when Kew Gardens recorded 34.8°C on Monday and was broken again the following day with 35.1°C at the same site.This is the earliest date in the UK temperature records, that 35°C has been exceeded.. by a whole month!
Thursday saw Heathrow reach 32°C, which makes it six days in a row where somewhere in the UK exceeded 30°C. This would be unusual in high summer, never mind that it's still Spring.
Here, Bank Holiday Monday saw the highest temperature of the heatwave, with 30.4°C. That beat the previous highest temperature for May by a whole 2 degrees. Moreover, it was also hotter than any JUNE day this century (June record stands at 30.0°C).
The Wednesday had a maximum of 29.7°C.
Overnight Monday into Tuesday saw the temperature only falling to 19.6°C, which smashed the previous mark of 16.9°C for the warmest May night set in 2012.
The overall effect on the May mean temperature, having been around the 13°C mark a week ago (bang on average) is now 15.3°C and is set to be the fourth month in a row to be 2°C or more above average, and as it stands would be the warmest May this century (beating 2008 and 2025 with 15.0°C).
So why was it so hot?
The primary reason was a huge area of high pressure which formed over the UK late last week. An area of high pressure is formed when the air sinks, and in doing so, sometimes warms the air. Think of putting your finger over a bicycle tyre pump and pressing the pump. What do you feel? Hot air as it gets compressed.
The same sort of thing happened on a much larger scale, the air was compressed and adiabatically heated in the process. Those of us who are long in the tooth will remember the historic heatwave of 1976 when 32°C (the old 90°F) was exceeded very day in the UK for a fortnight. The cause of that heatwave was similar. Most of our heatwaves are usually caused by hot air being advected in from the Continent, and usually do not last long before the heat gets pushed away. The heatwave this week was home-grown.
A quick note on what I consider a "hot" day here on the South Coast - our heat is often moderated by the sea breeze, hence recording lower maxima than further inland. The mark I usually use is the old 80° Fahrenheit mark, which is 26.7°C.
Using this standard, we had 4 consecutive hot days - Sunday to Wednesday. Putting that into perspective, the summers of 2007 to 2011 contained a total of just 5 hot days; three of those were in 2010.
On a final note, I read something earlier referring to the late May bank holiday weekend of 2007. The Sunday and Monday that year were a total writeoff. 48h of rain and wind, and maxima of 11°C and 12°C. Urgh!! The summer that followed had very little to commend it, either....
oooOOOooo
April 2026: Warmer than average and very dry
Posted at 08:30 on 12th May 2026
April 2026:The month was very mild (3rd warmest of the century after 2007 and 2011), and very dry with 1/4 of the normal rainfall.
The month was frequently quite breezy, continuing to dry everything out. As I type this, we've had 26.4mm in the two calendar months since 12th March, in contrast to the persistent very wet weather up to that point.
Temperatures:
Highest 21.3°C (29th)
Lowest 2.6°C (5th)
Average Max 16.4°C (+2.0)
Average Min 8.2°C (+1.6°C)
Mean for month 12.3°C (+2.0°C)
This was the third warmest April this century, after 2007 and 2011. I do hope that this summer will not follow in the footsteps of those two years!
This was also the third month in a row to be significantly warmeer than average - all three being close to or exceeding a +2°C anomaly.
Rainfall
Month: 12.6mm (28% of normal)
Wettest day 15th with 5.0mm
Year to date rainfall 350mm (142%) so far this year. Still well above normal, but dropping from the 211% of February, 324mm fell up to 12th March.
oooOOOooo
March 2026: Very mild with half of normal rainfall
Posted at 17:30 on 2nd April 2026
March 2026:The month was very mild (joint mildest of the century equalling 2017, and quite dry with half of the normal rainfall.
There was a considerable amount of settled weather thanks to high pressure, the lowest pressure all month was 999hPa, compare that with the three week spell of very low pressure in Jan/Feb I mentioned in earlier blog entries this year.
Temperatures:
Highest: 20.1°C (31st) - this was the 4th warmest March day this century, only 30th in 2003, 28th and 29th 2012 were higher with 20.5c, 20.6 and 21.8c respectively.
Lowest: 2.1°C (13th) and no air frost was recorded this month.
Average maximum: 13.2°C (+1.9°C compared to average, 2nd highest this century)
Average minimum: 6.5°C (+1.8°C also 2nd highest this century)
Mean temperature for the month: 9.7°C (+1.9°C, joint warmest with 2017)
Rainfall:
Month - 25.6mm (47% of normal)
Wettest day: 12th with 10.8mm
Yesr to date rainfall stands at 337.4mm (167%)
The month after the 13th was (mercifully, given the very wet Jan and Feb!) predominently very dry with only around 4mm falling after that date.
oooOOOooo
31st March: Warmest day of the year so far, but will it hold for Easter?
Posted at 19:30 on 31st March 2026
Today's maximum temperature reached 20.1°C - the highest of the year so far. This also brought up a "date record" for this century so far.
For those hoping for a fine Easter... unfortunately it looks like some very deep areas of low pressure may well approach northern parts of the UK leading to some wet and windy weather at times, though perhaps less so this far south.
oooOOOooo
February 2026: Very mild and another very wet month
Posted at 09:30 on 1st March 2026
February 2026: The month was very wet, and very mild particularly at night.
The month was dominated by low pressure tracking unusually much further south than normal. The extraordinary run of very low pressure I mentioned last month, with readings almost exclusively below 1000hPa that began late on 20th January, continued until the 12th - I cannot find anything in my records to come even close to equalling this.
The very wet day on the 18th led to a lot of flooding, disrupting traffic in many places.
Temperatures:
Very mild throughout, particularly at night, with no air frost recorded.
The monthly mean of 8.8°c is the second highest this century, after 2024. The month was the warmest by night this century.
Max Temp: 14.1°c (25th)
Min Temp: 2.0°c (13th)
Average Daily Maximum: 10.9°c (+1.5°c compared to normal))
Average Daily minimum: 7,2°c (+3.2°c)
Mean temperature for month : 8.8°c (+2.4°c)
Rainfall:
136mm (211% of normal)
Year to date 312.4mm (also 211% of normal)
Wettest day 18th (26.6mm)
Precipitation was recorded on 25 days; only 3 dry days in the month.
The month was the 2nd wettest Febuary this century, only 2002 was wetter with 146mm
The year-to-date total is the 2nd highest, after 2014.
oooOOOooo
January 2026: Very wet, with temperatures close to average
Posted at 14:00 on 1st February 2026
January 2026: The month was very wet, with temperatures just above average.
Temperatures:
The month started off cold and dry with chiily Easterly winds; the cold dry spell broke on the 8th with the rest of the month comparitavely mild.
Max Temp 11.4°c (12th)
Min Temp -2.2°c (5th) ; 4 nights brought an air frost.
Average daily maximum 8.9°c (+0.2°c)
Average daily minimum 4.2°c (+0.4°c)
Mean Temperature for month 6.7°c (+0.4°c)
Rainfall:
176.2mm (211.7% of normal)
Precipitation was measured on 24 days
The wettest day was the 26th, with 35.8mm, it was also the wettest January day this century.
One note of interest is the remarkable spell of low barometric pressure since the 21st of the month.
For context: The long term average air pressure is 1015.2 hPa.
As a general guide... during periods of settled weather, this value can rise above 1035-1040 hPa, and during unsettled weather can fall below 1000 hPa, and more rarely down into the 970-980 range during particularly unsettled and stormy weahter.
Drops in pressure below 1000hPa generally last no more than a day or two, recovering to higher values once the low passes.
Since late on 20th January, the pressure has remained below 1000hPa almost continuously and often below 990hPa, apart from a brief rise to 1001.4 yesterday before falling again. The models are indicating that the pressure will remain below 1000hPa until at least Thursday, which will be a 15-day period.
I thought this was unusual, so I had a look through the records....
Since 2000, I have recorded 5 previous runs where the pressure was predominently below 1000hPa, for greater than 10 days, with a run of 13 days (including a brief rise to 1002hPa) oooOOOoooin October 2023. The most noteworthy spell was 12 days from 16/02/2010 when the pressure remained below 999hPa throughout. This current spell will likely take the prize for longevity.
So, what is the cause of this unusually long spell of low pressure?
Normally the Atlantic jetstream (the mechanism that generates and drives low pressure systems, generally runs at 55° -ish latitude, though this can vary a lot. At the moment, it's currently running into Iberia, which means that the areas of low pressure are running much further south than usual, and due to the very cold block of air over eastern Europe and Russia, are grinding to a halt near or close to southern England.
This is also the reason why it has been very wet recently, and this coming week will see little change.
Such long spells of very low pressure are routine in N Scotland, closer to where the lows often track, but unusual down here.
oooOOOooo
Wettest January day this century
Posted at 14:00 on 27th January 2026
The 24 hours to 9am this morning brought 35.8mm of rain. This makes yesterday the wettest January day this century, and it was no surprise to hear of many roads in the area being flooded, as this rain came on top of an already wet month.
This January so far has produced 145.8mm, which is 175% of the normal rainfall for the whole of January. This month is already the third wettest January this century, with only 2014 (198mm) and 2016 (162mm) being wetter.
The January record for this century of 198mm was set in the notoriously wet winter of 2013/14 when six months worth of rain fell in just 7 weeks.
With 4-5 days of this month left, and further heavy rain likely, I would not rule out that 198mm mark coming under threat,
oooOOOooo
December 2025 and Year 2025 Summaries
Posted at 14:00 on 6th January 2026
December 2025: Mild and rather wet compared to 21st Century average. Very wet first 3 weeks, dry and colder last 10 days.
Temperature:
Highest - 13.8°c on the 9th; Lowest- -0.6°C on the 30th.
Mean Maximum 10.5°C (+1.3°C)
Mean Minimum 6.3°C (+1.5°C)
Mean Temperature for the month: 8.6°C (+1.5°C) - =5th warmest this century.
The 6 warmest Decembers this century have all occured since 2015.
Rainfall:
Total rain for month 122.8mm (133% of normal). The rain all fell during the first three weeks of the month
Wettest day - 21.8mm on the 18th - however at one point 32mm fell within one 24h period around that date.
Year 2025: Overall rather warm with almost exactly the annual rainfall.Very dry spring, warm summer and very wet September.
Mean temperature for year was 12.7°C (+1.0°C compared to normal since 2000) - 2nd warmest this century, and up until the last few cold days of December, we were heading for the warmest.
To put this into context - 2022 reamins the warmest at 12.8°C. Only 4 years this century have reached or exceeded 12.5°C: 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 indicating the warming trend over recent years.
The summer was the warmest this century (18.9°C) and consistently and remarkably warm in terms of day maxima - between 9th June and the end of August, only August 30th failed to achieve at least 20°C - I've never had that happen before.I regard a summer daily maximum below 18°C as rather cool; there were only 3 such days in summer 2025, during the first few days of June.
Spring (with a mean of 12.0°C) was also the warmest this century, and the 2nd driest after 2011.
Rainfall: Total rain for the year was 795.6mm, (101% of normal, which is 788mm).
Wettest day: - 43mm on 29th August.
A very wet January was followed by the dry Spring - summer was statistically a little drier than normal, but hidden within that is the fact that half of the entire season's rainfall fell on 2 days alone - 7th June and 29th August. September was wet, too with Autumn overall seeing a l;ittle above the mormal amount of rainfall.
oooOOOooo
Cold spell latest: Met Office issue Amber warning
Posted at 14:00 on 31st December 2025
The Met Office have issued an Amber Warning for cold weather valid to 6th January - the warning covers all of England. Full information is on their website and social feeds.
Here this morning we had the coldest night of the season so far with a minimum of -0.6°C. AS is often the case, Bournemouth Airport recorded amuch lower temperature, the minimum this morning was -5.3°C.
So why is there such a difference? Two main factors here - firstly, the station is a few miles inland rather then the less than a mile for this station.Being nearer the coast and the warmer seas moderates the cold a little. In addition, the Airport is located over sandy soils, which radiates stored heat much faster at night leading to bigger temperature falls.This station is located in an urban area where nights will be less cold in most circumstances.
The record for this station this century is -5.8°C recorded on Christmas morning in 2010; the January record is -5.7°C recorded the year before. I'm not expecting these records to fall, but you never know....
oooOOOooo
"...is it going to snow?..."
Posted at 14:00 on 30th December 2025
With the forthcoming cold spell, the question on many people's lips is "Is it going to snow?"
The short answer is "Dunno... it might...!" The longer answer follows....
There are two main issues here. The first is that northerlies tend to be dry down here, so that while it may be cold enough for snow, the air is usually too dry for precipitation.
The second is that any incursion from the west or southwest warms the air sufficiently so that eventually rain falls rather than snow, in south-east Dorset.
The exception to the "too-dry northerly" is that if the air is sufficiently unstable, then weather features may form in the flow leading to falls of snow away from the "usual" areas of north-facing coasts. This is comparatively rare, and in any case cannot usually be accurately forcasted at ranges of more than 18-24 hours.
If I have to stick my neck out, there is a chance that the cold front hearalding the arrival of the frigid air may bring some short-loved snow. There is the small chance of small weather features within the flow producing something
Many years of weather-watching in these parts suggests a chance of 5-10% chance of snow between Friday this week and the middle of next when the cold looks set to loosen its grip (as per current model indications) at least for a time, but untertainty by that point is considerable.
We will see!
oooOOOooo
New Year - Cold spell and Snow Prospects...
Posted at 10:30 on 28th December 2025
Good morning. Hope everyone had a good Christmas.
As I expected, the coldest weather on Christmas Day did indeed pass to the south of us, giving northern parts of France and even Jersey some snowfall on the day itself. So close!
One of my neighbours asked me if it was true that we are going to be hit by cold weather with snow in the New Year.
My answer: Cold, (colder than we've had in recent days) quite likely. Snow? Impossible to tell at more than 2-3 days away. Quite how cold it might get is also up for grabs, but something notable compares with recent years looks to be on the cards.
This is what we do know at the moment:...:
High confidence of a colder spell starting NYE/NYD. Just how cold it might get is open to question, but it is unlikely to be as cold as the infamous Beast From The East episide in February/March 2018.
Increasing snow risk for some in a potemtially unstable NE to NW wind
Whether we get snow or rain (if anything falls out of the sky) in our corner of the world will depend on small details which are impossible to nail down more (or even less) than 2 days out.
Please please take no notice of the usual click-bait hyperbole from certain areas of the press regarding "SNOW BOMB!".... "6ft WALL of SNOW"... "EXACT date and time it will snow in xxx....". The best place to keep up to date is the Met Office website and Youtube channel.
oooOOOooo
Christmas Update
Posted at 10:40 on 21st December 2025
Greetings to all on the shortest day of the year. The days get longer from here! This might sound strange, but the earliest sunset (16:02) was a few days ago, and the latest sunrise (08:10) will not occur until New Years Day, by which time sunset will already be about 15 minutes later than it was last week. Google "Equation of time"...
Thursday's very wet day (the rain event produced 32mm in all) took December's total to 114.8mm, which is well above the normal average for the whole month of 92mm. However, (after the likelihood of some rain at times later today) it is looking likely at this stage that we will not add much more for the remainer of the month as high pressure starts to have more of an influence.
I said a few days ago that the prospects of a white Christmas were not encouraging, but that we may well get something more seasonal with a greater chance of frost as the weather settles down. Since then, some of the model output have started to show a cold pool of air crossing southern parts of Britain on Christmas Day, together with the chance of some wintry precipitation mostly in the SE. There is still a lot of uncertainty (with it looking more likely to track further south over France instead) and I would say the chance is probably 5-10%. It probably wont stop the usual tabloids' hyperbole though!
Medium term, it looks like high pressure is likely to take charge at high latitudes (Scandinavia, initially) over the Christmas/New Year period, stopping the Atlantic onslaught and bringing a solid easterly flow by Tuesday. Longer term signals indicate a continuing high latitude blocking, with the chance of some very cold weather. The Continent is not that cold at the moment. so the easterlies will not be too frigid, at least to start with.
Chances of snow? Impossible to say at this stage, and as we know, it is very difficult to get snow down here. The most likely outcome at this stage is rather cold, settled and mostly dry.
oooOOOooo
December so far...
Posted at 09:30 on 16th December 2025
Think that this month so far has been mild and wet? You'd be right.
The normal mean temnperature (since 2000) for December here is 7.1°C. This month so far is running at 10.5°C - this 3.4°C anomaly is on the large side. 2015's record of 11.7°C does look pretty safe, however.
The annual mean temperature is running at 13.0°C (the highest this century is 12.8) so it's touch and go as to whether we end up with the warmest year of the century.
Rain this month so far is 80.4mm - the average for the whole month is 92mm, so this month is running at around 175% of normal.
Annual mean rainfall is 788mm - as things stand, the YTD total is 753mm, so we look pretty likely to end up almost bang on the mean this year.
With Christmas just over a week away, many will be wondering if we will get a white Christmas this year. The signs are not encouraging, to say the least, however there are signs that after a potentially very wet next few days, high pressure may well bring more settled weather by early next week and over the holiday period. Depending on wind direction and cloud cover, this might bring something feeling a bit more seasonal with a reasonable chance of frost.A lot of water to flow under the bridge before then, both figuratively and literally.
oooOOOooo
Station update
Posted at 1900 on 7th December
This morning I had the anemometer replaced. The previous one failed some 3 weeks ago and I've been running with the spare which is closer to the roof, and being lower, doesnt pick up the more gentle winds as easily, resulting in long periods of "no wind".
Previous anemometers (including the standby one) worked by the rotating cups passing a magnet over a reed switch which clicks on each rotation. The quicker the clicks, the faster the wind speed.
Unfortunately, the reed switches tend to last only 2-3 years. The newer anemometers use a coil instead of a reed switch, and should hopefully last a lot longer.
My thanks to Keith at Master Aerials (Bournemouth) for coming out and doing the swap-over for me.
On another note, I have finished ironing out some snags in the weather data (mainly the rainfall data) which resulted from importing data going back to the start of 2000 from Davis Weatherlink to Cumulus MX. Both methods of looking at station records on this site since 2000 are now reliable. I am only mising 11 days of data from the end of March 2006 due to a corrupt file - I am hoping to rescue the missing data in due course, with the help of Davis.
oooOOOooo
Rainfall Radar
Posted at 0730 on 4th December 2025
I have added a link to the menu - Rainfall Radar.
This links directly to the Netweather.tv rainfall radar page.
Netweather really is an excellent site.
In my opinion, it has the best, sharpest and clearest rainfall radar display in the country with high resolution down to 0.5km. It is an extremely useful tool and shows what is happening recently/now instead of being a forecast.
An app is also available from Apple and other app stores to display the radar on your mobile device.
Also on the site is a whole range of forecasting model output. Some are premium features, but there is a lot to look at without a subscription. There is also a very active community section as well. Well worth a look.
oooOOOooo
November 2025
Posted at 1015 on 2nd December 2025
Summary of November 2025 - Very mild first half with some date records for this century being broken. Then, a much colder spell after the 16th with the first air frosts of the season. Ovwerall the month was milder than usual, and somewhat drier.
The year continues to be overall slightly drier than normal; the dry spring being offset by a wet January and a very wet September.
The month in numbers:
Average maximum 12.8°c (+0.8°c compared to normal)
Average minimum 7.7°c (+1.1°c)
Mean temp for month: 10.3°c (+1.0°c)
Rainfall: 82.8mm (93% of normal)
Rainfall (YTD) 672.8mm (96% of normal)
oooOOOooo
Things are changing!!!......
Posted at 1305 on 30th November 2025.
After almost 30 years of running this weather station (and sixteen of those running my associated website), I am pleased to say that I am at last moving the site out of the 1990's and onto a new software platform.
With changes in Microsoft Windows, and the fact that some of the software I use is quite old and is no longer supported, I didnt want to wake up one morning to find that some elements of the site simply won't work any more.
The upshot of all this is that I have updated the weather software I am using (CumulusMX), used a brilliant add-on template (Cumulus Utils) and tweaked it somewhat to put together a new site with a whole host of new features, interactive charts and so on.
Just a couple of things I want to highlight:
Firstly.. one of the new features (Reports.. Yadr from the menu) shows a colored table for each year showing temperatures and rainfall for each day. It's worth a look.
Secondly.. you'll find two menu items for Records and Station Records. The records as supplied from the template needs some work, as does the imported data that it uses - I have some quirks to iron out. So for the monthly, yearly and all time records for this station, please use "Station Records".
Clicking on Records - Day Records.. leads to temperature, rainfall and wind records for each day of the year. The entries in colour have been set in the past year. These are good to use.
Rain rate records.. there are some unrealistic numbers in there, so I have some data to clean up.
For those who like simplicity and familarity, the "legacy" charts are still available (bookmarks to them will still work) and will continue to be as long as the software producing them continues to work.
This will continue to be the "landing page" for the site.
I plan to use this page to post news and information regarding this weather station and site, as and when needed. I will also occasionally post any snippets of interest from time to time, relating to our local weather.
Have a query, comment or feedback? Please use the contact details at the top of the page.
