Record breaking rainfall - for some

Autumn 

Many people in England will remember Autumn 2019 as a very wet season, with significant flooding in parts of the Midlands and days of prolonged rainfall. But this hasn’t been the case across the whole of the UK, as the map below indicates.

There has been a marked difference in rainfall amounts between eastern parts of England and north western Scotland. Autumn rainfall records were broken for South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire, with the previous records set in 2000. England as a whole has had its fifth wettest Autumn with 348mm.

South Yorkshire was the wettest county compared to the long-term average (1981-2010) with more than double its average rainfall for the season (425.4 mm compared to an average of 208 mm)

Sheffield has been a notably wet location, breaking its Autumn record weeks before the end of the season. It has now recorded 474.8mm, breaking its previous record of 425.2mm also set in 2000.

The location with the highest total through the Autumn was Holne on the southern edge of Dartmoor in Devon with 899mm. The driest spot was Shoeburyness in Essex with 148mm.

Conversely, northern and western Scotland have been much drier than average, with our north Scotland climate region having just 69% of the seasonal average (364.1mm).

In comparison to the rainfall distribution in 2000 when many Autumn records were set, this Autumn’s highest rainfall accumulations were very focused in the East Midlands. In 2000 the highest totals affected much of England and Wales, with just parts of Scotland ending the season below average.

Sunshine hours have also been notably higher in northern Scotland when compared to the long-term average. Although the UK has seen 102% of its average sunshine, Shetland has received 130% of its average sunshine with 257 hours. In contrast the south coast of England was duller than average with 87% of average sunshine hours in Cornwall (285 hours).

Temperatures across the UK have been close to average over the Autumn, with the UK just 0.3°C below its average for the period.

‘Act’ – refers to the actual average value in the units given

‘Anom 8110’ – refers to the anomaly relative to a 1981-2010 baseline climatology given as a difference (temperature) or as a percentage (rainfall and sunshine)

November 

As an individual month, November looked very similar to Autumn in terms of meteorological distribution. The east of England has seen a lot of rainfall with a number of counties receiving far more than their average rainfall for the month. The highest being South Yorkshire which had its wettest November on record with 257% of average rainfall (185 mm). Nottinghamshire (136mm) had its third wettest November and Lincolnshire (116mm) its fourth.

In contrast Ross and Cromarty was the driest location compared to its average through November, with just 32% of its mean rainfall for the month (64.1mm). This positions 2019 as the fifth driest November on record for this region.

Sunshine hours were also higher in Scotland compared to the long-term average than anywhere else in the UK.

The distribution of sunshine hours compared to the average was similar to the whole season, with north west Scotland seeing more than average with many parts of England and Wales seeing less than average. Shetland came out on top with 186% of its average sunshine (53.6 hours).

With a cold end to the month, temperatures ended up being just below average across much of the UK. Scotland was -1.4°C below the long term average and the UK as a whole was -0.9°C below average.

‘Act’ – refers to the actual average value in the units given

‘Anom 8110’ – refers to the anomaly relative to a 1981-2010 baseline climatology given as a difference (temperature) or as a percentage (rainfall and sunshine)