The warmest November on record. December saw 72 hours of continuous rainfall at Loch Sloy, the longest recorded period of rainfall on record.

January. Unsettled and very wet, especially in the first two weeks, but very sunny. Mild in the south. Heavy rain on the 3rd in Belfast (25 mm). Rain led to more flooding in the south. Flooding almost cut Chichester off for some time at the start of the month (6-10th) as the Lavant broke its banks. Many mudslips and rockfalls in the south. West Sussex was particularly badly affected. There was also a local heavy band of snow to the N and W of London on the 6-7th: Hitchin had 15 cm.

February. Wet. Slightly cooler than average, with cold and snowy spell mid-month. A mild unsettled start. From the 11th, SE winds brought cold air to Britain. The 14th was particularly cold, beneath freezing over much of Britain in a strong easterly wind; the maximum in Dunkeswell (East Devon) was only -3.5C. A snowstorm caused rush hour chaos in London. Heavy snow across the north and Wales on the 15th, depositing up to 10 cm. The snow showers in this spell were often accompanied by thunder; there was lightning damage in Newcastle on the 21st. Less cold in the south 16-19th. It was very cold with severe frosts and freezing fog in the north; -13.8C recorded at Strathallan, near Perth on the 17th following a maximum of only -2.7C on the 16th. The cold spell ended around the 23rd, with more snow (15 cm in Nottingham). Overall, it was very dull wet in north-east Scotland.

March. Warm. Wet and dull in the west, but dry and sunny in the east. Just 1 mm of rain fell in south London, and it was the sunniest March in Aberdeen since 1929. On the 14th, a rainbow was reported as being seen over Sheffield for 6 hours, from 9 am to 3 pm, easily beating the August 1979 record for the longest-lasting rainbow, although that seems awfully long to me.

April. There was a gust of 100 mph at Cardiff in a gale on the 1st, when the pressure was also very low for April. Overall the month was wet, but was very close to the long-term average temperature. Cromer reached 25C on the 29th.

May. Dull and wet in the south, but dry and sunny in the north. Cooler than average. It was -6C at Altnaharra on the morning of the 20th.

June. Generally dry, sunny, and warm. Violent thunderstorms on the 24th over the southeast as a cold front moved east. Lightning damage and death. 27mm of rain in 11 minutes at Wokingham; large hailstones; winds of 47mph, and a gust of 62mph at Herstmonceux (E. Sussex). It was associated with a marked asthma outbreak - perhaps a combination of a high pollen count and the effects of the storm on pollen combined with pollution. As well as some notable gusts, there were also some windless zones in the storms. The storm activity was preceded by rapid development of altocumulus castellanus on the night of the 23-24th.

July. Very warm (18.0C CET) and very dry. It was around 33C in Norflok and London on the 12th, and Lakenheath on the 24th; the highest accepted temperature for the month was 33.4¡C, recorded at Morley St Botolph, Norfolk, on July 12. A cold front moved east on the 24th, starting off some thunderstorms over Wales in the morning. Severe thunderstorm at Birmingham on the 24th, with large hail (15mm). There were deaths caused by lightning. There was a particularly damaging hailstorm over south Lincolnshire. 22,000 lightning strikes over east Staffs and north Derbyshire. Flooding. Violent hailstorms around Oxford.Many parts of the southeast had the hottest night of the century at the end, with minima above 20C.

August. One of the two post-war occasions so far when a very warm July was not followed by a good August. Slightly cooler than average. The month had a thundery start, and was then unsettled. There were particularly severe thunderstorms in the Midlands on the night of 3rd-4th. On the 10th 80mm in 12 hours in two thunderstorms over London. On the 14th the minimum temperature at Kielder Castle was -2.0C; this is the lowest August temperuatre of the century in England.On the 17th 23 cows were killed by lightning in Norfolk. 146 mm of rain fell at Bungay in Suffolk on the night of the 31st.

September. Cool, dull, and wet. Particularly heavy rain in the Midlands on the 14-15th: 77 mm in 36 hours at Wittering near Peterborough, with 50 mm over a wide area, and flooding in the Midlands and east.

October. Slightly cooler than average overall. Dry, fine, warmer first half, much colder, wetter second half. Sunny in some southern places: Bognor Regis recorded 121 hours of sunshine between the 3rd and 18th inclusive as an anticyclone reigned. Saunton Sands and St Helier reached 21.9C on the 15th, and 20C was reached every day somewhere in the country between the 10th and 15th. It became much colder as the anticyclone moved away. There was flooding in the SW at the end of the month after 100 mm of rain fell in two days.

November. The warmest ever recorded (10.1C CET, the only November above 10), by some way. It reached 19.1C in London on the 3rd. Very dry in the second half, but it was dull in the south.

December. Warm (the only very mild December since 1988), sunny, and wet. Very wet in the west. The wettest December week of the century in Glasgow. It rained continuously for over 72 hours at Loch Sloy, the longest recorded period of rainfall on record (although it is likely that longer periods have occurred in the NW Highlands, but have not been recorded). 170 mm fell there on the 10th alone, and there was 350 mm in a week. Not surprisingly given these totals, there was widespread flooding in western Scotland. The highest December temperature for England was equalled this month (see 1985), with 17.7 ºC at Lenkridge (Staffs.).