Weather summary for summer 2022 in High Heaton

Most people would probably agree that this summer seems to have been warmer and drier than usual, so let’s see if the statistics back that up.

Certainly there were some extremely hot days, none more so than Tuesday 19^th July when the temperature reached an extraordinary 35.9°C, which is 6.0°C hotter than any previous day in the last 30 years. A new record temperature was also set for August at 29.5°C which is 2.6°C higher than previously recorded. All three summer months (June, July and August) had their hot spells and all had average temperatures well above their respective averages. It is therefore not surprising that the summer as a whole was more than 1°C warmer than average at 16.3°C. It wasn’t our warmest summer on record however as it was beaten in 2003 when the average temperature was 17.0°C, mainly because of record breaking June temperatures that year. A comparison of the two summers shows that in both years the temperature exceeded 20°C on 57 of the 92 days. It exceeded 25°C on two days in 2003 compared to nine such days in 2022. So as far as temperatures are concerned, both years have reasons to claim that they were the best!

All three summer months in 2022 were substantially drier than usual, the total rainfall being 113 mm which is 60% of the average over the last 30 years. There have been only three drier summers, 1994, 1995 and 2018, the driest being 1995 with only 67mm. There were many long periods without rain this summer, but each of the three months had one very wet day which is why we didn’t experience the drought conditions experienced elsewhere.

No previous summer in the last 30 years was both hotter and drier than 2022, so, at least for holidaymakers, it was a truly excellent and memorable summer!

                                                                                                      John Telfer