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weather-uk  press pack

 

Ready-prepared articles on the UK’s climate by month and by season (continued)

 

  • 010106  January, the last 100 years   The character of January in the UK has changed markedly over the last three centuries: it is now warmer, wetter, sunnier, and less snowy than at any time
  • 010203  February, the last 100 years  In a good year February proffers a sneak preview of the forthcoming spring. As the days grow longer and the sun climbs higher in the sky, the temperature
  •  010303  March, the last 100 years  “The flowers that bloom in the spring, tra la / Breathe promise of merry sunshine / As we merrily dance and we sing, tra la / We welcome the hope that they bring,
  • 010414   Easter Monday weather over the years  Good Fridays have been around for roughly 2000 years, but Easter Mondays have a much less impressive pedigree. Born of the reforming
  • 010407   April, the last 100 years  April is not a month for summer sports. Or it shouldn't be. In most years temperatures are still depressed, the water-table is high, and rheumatic joints protest.
  • 010505   May, the last 100 years   "Cast not a clout/ Till May be out" is an old saying which still has some currency even though a substantial part of the population no longer knows what a 'clout'
  • 010602   June, the last 100 years  The words "flaming June" are probably uttered more frequently in exasperation than as a description. If you expect June to live up to its "flaming" designation
  • 010707  July, the last 100 years  Any long-term trend or short-period fluctuation in an upward direction will be most apparent to the population at large during high summer, for it is then that new
  • 010803  August, the last 100 years  Thunderstorms rumble around Britain most frequently between May and September, and over a large part of the country August delivers more thunder
  • 010811  When does autumn begin?  Long ago when Britain was essentially a rural country and the vast majority of the population worked on the land, August was considered to be the first month
  • 010901   September, the last 100 years  September has unfairly acquired a reputation for being a wet and windy month in the UK, but the statistics show that, over a long period, September's rain
  • 010922  The autumn equinox  Today we pass another marker on the downward path towards winter, because this is the autumn equinox. September 22 is the most common date, but the
  • 011006  October, the last 100 years  October. The month the leaves change colour and begin to fall, apples and pears ripen, the clocks go back. October really is autumn. Whatever the weather
  • 011103  November, the last 100 years  November has two faces, meteorologically speaking. One is gloomy and drear: day after day of dismal skies, a thick mist obscuring familiar horizons, the
  • 011201  December, the last 100 years  Although the days are at their shortest in December, it is not usually the coldest month of the winter.  In the last 100 years December has had the lowest
  • 011208  Variations in snow frequency  We have just completed the warmest autumn since 1978, but there were one or two days in November when northerly winds swept the country, a precursor
  • 020202  February as a spring month?  Once upon a time, when Britain was primarily an agricultural country and a substantial proportion of its people lived on the land, February was
  • 010302  The range of March weather  More than any other month of the year March can bring us meteorological extremes at both ends of the spectrum – reminders of winter just past, and
  • 020608  The English summer myth  The old saying tells us we ought to expect an English summer to consist of two fine days and a thunderstorm. How close this is to the truth can be
  • 020720  Cool but dry summers  It is sometimes wrongly assumed that all  summer months that are dry and sunny are also hot. It is often, though not always, the case in July and August, but
  • 020831  September bucks the trend  Very warm days have become more frequent in every month of the year during the last quarter of a century, except for September.  National records
  • 020921  Sunny Septembers  Some Septembers are decidedly autumnal with frequent rain and wind, but from time to time we get a really warm and sunny one. Such a month provides welcome
  • 021012  How to compare summers  As the last of the Indian summer warmth slips away, we can now look back at the summer  and put it into some sort of historical context.  Summer means
  • 021102  November wind and rain  Many Novembers bring wild and stormy days with the wind rumbling in the chimney and the rain beating against the window-pane, alternating with bright
  • 030329  March 29 – more weather than any other date  March 29 is one of those rare dates in the calendar which seem to attract extreme or unusual weather. Exceptional early heatwaves
  • 990516  Why some springs arrive earlier than others  Very roughly plant growth begins when the temperature climbs above 6ºC (43ºF), and, given sufficient moisture, the higher it climbs