2014 weather - your stand-out records

[RayProudfoot]

2014 was the warmest year on record in the UK according to the Met Office. Of the 12 months only one had below average temperatures. Ironically that was August - the main holiday month!

My own records match that analysis. Here are some of my stand-out records for 2014...

The warmest winter I can recall with no minima below 0°C. The first air frost was on 11 March (-0.4C) and the coldest night was 24 March (-0.8C). The winter average was 6.3°C - 1.7C above the 1981-2010 average.

A very stormy winter with many intense depressions crossing the UK. Lowest pressure was 963.1hPa on 15 February. Highest wind gust was 56mph on 12 Feb. Both new all-time records.

Although it was a warm year there were no exceptionally high temps. 29.1°C on 25 July was as hot as it got.

Total rainfall was 34.51" - 0.89" above average. Rain fell on 200 days with the wettest day on 19 July with 0.89". Unusual not to get a day with over 1" of rain in the year.

My all-time rainfall rate was broken on 8 August during a cloudburst. 10.29"/hr beat 9.76"/hr back in July 2009.

September was exceptionally dry with only 0.43" of rain. It also included the longest dry spell of 18 days (2-19 Sept). It was another all-time record for low monthly rainfall.

So how was 2014 for you?

[PaulMy]

We had a very cold and long winter and according to Environment Canada records for some days but overall not a record setting year. My station has been in operation for 6 1/2 years.

For these 6.5 years of data 2014 had:
The Lowest Avg Hi Temp for months Jan Feb Mar Apr May Nov
The lowest Avg Lo Temp for months Feb Mar Apr Nov
The lowest Avg Temp for months Feb Mar Nov
The lowest Avg Max App Temp for months of Jan Feb Mar May Jul Nov
The lowest Avg Min App Temp for months of Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jul Aug
The most Heating Degree Days for months of Jan Feb Mar May Jul Nov

All time station records set in 2014:
Lowest Apparent Temp at -31.4 Jan 7
Lowest Wind Chill at -38.2 Jan 7
Lowest Maximum Temp -17.2 Jan 7
Highest Pressure at 1043.01 Dec 7

For my Top 10 in each of the weather categories in the 6.5 years:
7 of 10 Min Temp occurred in 2014
6 of 10 Min Avg Temp occurred in 2014
10 of 10 Min App Temp occurred in 2014
8 of 10 Low Max Temp occurred in 2014
9 of 10 Min Wind Chill occurred in 2014
0 of 10 Max Temp occurred in 2014

So while not an official exceptional year, from my station's data in Komoka definitely an exceptional cool year.

The 2014-15 winter started the same in early November but quickly changed to no further snow and quite mild for December.

Paul

[Matt.j5b]

Yearly Summary for 2014

It was another hot year but more severe than last year, and the driest in 9 years.

Yearly Average Temperature: 21.0 C, 0.3 C above average
Yearly Average Minimum Temperature: 15.0 C, on average
Yearly Average Maximum Temperature: 27.0 C, 0.6 above average
Lowest Temperature: 1.1 C on 2 July 2014
Highest Temperature: 41.3 C on 4 January 2014 (all time record, last year 40.6 C – which broke the record of 38.5 in December 2012)
Lowest Maximum Temperature: 15.9 C on 23 August 2014
Highest Minimum Temperature: 23.6 C on 21 February 2014

The monthly average Temperatures resulted in 5 months of near normal temperature (January, February, March and April and August), 5 months warmer (May, June, July, October, November and December) and 2 months cooler (July and September).

For Temperature warm days and cool nights were present early in the year with the warm days continuing into autumn with warm nights. Winter was mild before some cold mornings in July and early August. This was then followed by a very warm spring and into summer with warm nights as well.

Yearly Average Minimum Pressure: 1014.6 hPa
Yearly Average Maximum Pressure: 1019.6 hPa
Lowest Pressure: 998 hPa on 4 January 2014 (associated with above average temperatures)
Highest Pressure: 1032.8 hPa on 6 August 2014 (all time record)

Yearly Average Minimum Humidity: 51.6 % (2.9% less than last year)
Yearly Average Maximum Humidity: 90.2 %
Lowest Humidity: 11% on 2 August 2014
Highest Humidity: 100 % on 2 May and 29 December 2014

Maximum Wind Gust of 75.2 km/hr on 29 June 2014 (cold SW winds after a cold front) and 68.7 km/hr on November 27 2014 (edge of supercell thunderstorm)
Wind Run 18289.5 km (1336.1 km more than 2013)
Annual Average Wind Speed: 2.1 km/hr (0.2 km/hr more than 2013)
Dominant Direction: SE

Annual Rainfall Total: 640.2 mm (470.8 mm below average), very dry year, driest in 9 years for nearest official station 12km to the east (which received 150mm more than here, we normally get less here)
Number of Rain Days: 113 days, 34 less than last year
Highest Daily Total: 111.7mm on 28 March 2014
Wettest Month: 177.6 mm – March 2013, 73.1mm above average
Driest Month: 6.8 mm – July 2014, 66.7 mm below average (the lowest below average was April with 33.7 mm and 83.1 mm below average)
There were 7 days with falls of at least 20 mm with 100 days of less than 2mm

For rainfall a dry start for the year with summer before a wet March with a heavy rain event before drying out for the rest of year with little rainfall. However there was good rain in August but that didn’t continue for spring, but rain and storms returned in November and December.

All time records (measurement made since 2009):
Highest Temperature 41.3 °C at 2:40 PM on 04 January 2014
Highest Dew Point 26.8 °C at 3:17 PM on 31 December 2014
Lowest Dew Point -3.4 °C at 1:56 PM on 02 August 2014
Highest Apparent Temperature 47.5 °C at 2:55 PM on 04 January 2014
Lowest Wind Chill Temperature -5.1 °C at 7:35 AM on 17 October 2014
Highest Heat Index 51.1 °C at 2:40 PM on 04 January 2014
Highest Wind Gust 75.2 km/h at 12:08 PM on 29 June 2014
Highest Wind Speed Average 57.0 km/h at 4:57 PM on 27 November 2014
Highest Pressure (SL) 1032.6 hPa at 8:45 AM on 06 August 2014

[colinpb]

Records broken in 2014, and general observations.....

Highest Minimum – 19 July – 18.9 C

Highest Monthly Rainfall – January - 153.0 mm

Longest Wet Period – 22 days to 19 January

Highest Average Wind Speed – 25 January - 22 mph

Highest Daily Wind Run – 15 February – 213 miles (though 22 December a close second at 212 miles)

Highest Pressure 29 December - 1042.64 hPa

Lowest Pressure - 14 February - 973.86 hPa

Annual Mean Temperature 1.7 C above norm. August was a let-down at -0.6 C below norm.

Frosts – January 4, February 0, March 1, November 2, December 9. January, February and March were 2.3, 2.6 and 2.0 C above norm, hence so few frosts. 31st December was the coldest night of the year at -2.7 C.

Rainfall for the year was 73.5mm above norm. Rainfall would have been below norm if it hadn’t been for a combined January / February total of 286.6 mm; 171.9 mm above norm! March and June were almost half that expected. September was the driest just 15.2mm, a little over a quarter of that expected.

Colin