British Isles weather diary
Recent temperature, rainfall and sunshine extremes over the British Isles- Maximum temperature; 06-18 UTC
- Minimum temperature; 18-06 UTC
- Grass minimum temperature; 18-06 UTC
- Overnight rainfall; 18-06 UTC
- Daytime rainfall; 06-18 UTC
- Note that during cold weather many official sites on these maps under-report precipitation due to problems with icing and with solid snow blocking the tipping bucket raingauge.
- Sunshine; sunrise-sunset yesterday
Current significant weather maps
00 GMT, 03 GMT, 06 GMT, 09 GMT, 12 GMT, 15 GMT, 18 GMT, 21 GMT.
Current temperature maps
00 GMT, 03 GMT, 06 GMT, 09 GMT, 12 GMT, 15 GMT, 18 GMT, 21 GMT.
British Isles weather, October 2020
Rain and drizzle moved NE'wards across the British Isles on the 29th, after a bright start in NE-most districts. It became drier in the S later, and quite mild behind the warm front; the northeast was chilly after an early ground frost in parts of NE Scotland. It was blustery in the west with some very heavy falls f rain in parts of NW England and N Wales. Strong winds and low pressure linked to ex-hurricane Epsilon in the North Atlantic created huge waves off the coast of Cornwall, attracting daredevil surfers and body boarders. The RNLI warned of a "colossal swell" and "extremely dangerous conditions", advising people to stay out of the water. (Jersey Airport 15.8C, Braemar 7.9C maximum, Fyvie Castle -0.8C minimum, Capel Curig 74.0 mm, Lerwick 5.1 h.)
The 30th was a mild day in Cent and E England, with near-normal temperatures elsewhere. NW England and N Wales were wet overnight with further rain in Wales during the day. Elsewhere, S Britain was cloudy with patchy rain or drizzle, especially in the SW. After overnight rain, Cent and N districts brightened up, but it was showery in NW Scotland. Scotland and Ireland had a sunny day, elsewhere it was rather cloudy. (Hereford 17.6C, Dalwhinnie 8.4C maximum, Castlederg 5.5C minimum, Capel Curig 23.0 mm, Leuchars 6.7 h.)
A deep area of low pressure moved from W of Ireland towards NW Scotland on the 31st; this was storm Aiden, centre 968 mb to the W of Stornoway at 1200 GMT. Rain spread across the British Isles, followed by brighter weather in S Britain, but only short drier intervals in Scotland. It was windy in the W and N, with gales in the more exposed regions; there were gusts of up to 80 mph in the Scottish islands. Temperatures were mostly above normal in a S'ly flow. Many ferry sailing around Scotland were cancelled due to the wind and sea conditions. (Kinloss 16.5C, Lerwick 11.2C maximum, Redesdale Camp -0.9C minimum, Achnagart 60.8 mm, Casement Aerodrome 4.4 h.)
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Last updated 3 November 2020.
