High Heaton Weather in 2024      by John Telfer

This time we are looking at some of the extremes of 2024, along with comparisons with previous years.

The first few months of the year were very wet and it looked as though we were on course to exceed the previous year’s record rainfall total of 975mm. However a slightly drier than usual end of the year meant that the total fell short of the record at 895mm (35”). Nevertheless, 2024 was the second wettest of the last 30 years. Total rainfall was 33% more than in an average year, and nine of the months were wetter than usual. 

The mean temperature for the year was 10.2°C which is a significant 0.5°C above the annual average value. This was mainly the result of the mild winter and spring months, with the summer being cooler than average. There were only 19 nights during the year when the temperature fell below zero, none of which were in December.  For the third year in succession there was no substantial snowfall, and on the few days when it did snow, it melted within 24 hours. There were no days when the daytime temperature failed to rise above freezing, the coldest day being 17^th January with a maximum temperature of 0.5°C.  Nine months were warmer than average. While I am not claiming that it is evidence of recent global warming, it is interesting to note that three of the four warmest years of the last thirty were 2022, 2023 and 2024. 

The only month to break any records was May. It actually broke two records, it being both the warmest and the wettest May for at least 30 years!  

Finally, here are the extremes of 2024:

• Maximum temperature: 26.6°C on Friday 19^th July at 1.45pm    
• Minimum temperature: -3.6°C on Thursday 18^th January at 5.15am    
• Wettest day: Tuesday 9^th April with 39.2mm (1.5”)
• Highest wind gust: 49mph on Tuesday 23^rd January at 5pm (during storm Jocelyn).