The UK experienced a year of torrential rain, battering storms, and a relatively cool summer in 2024. While 2024 was forecast to be the world’s warmest year on record, with temperatures likely to surpass the symbolic 1.5°C threshold established in the Paris Agreement, the UK managed to escape the extreme heat. However, the year saw some memorable weather, revealing evidence of a changing climate.
In early January, Storm Henk hit the UK, followed by Storms Isha and Jocelyn three weeks later, with Isha being the most significant windstorm since Storm Eunice in February 2022. Widespread harm was caused on 21–22 January, leaving thousands of people without power across Ireland and the UK, with cancelled flights and disrupted train services from Scotland to London. In February, the UK experienced the second-warmest February since 1884, with temperatures 2.2C above the climate average, making it the most prolonged winter in record for England and Wales, and one of the least frosty winters on record.
The UK’s May was the warmest on record, with temperatures 2.4C above average, surpassing the previous 2008 record by a full degree, to become the warmest May on record. The month’s Best was well-timed and corresponded with the most widespread aurora display caused by a solar storm across the UK and a large portion of Northern Hemisphere, the greatest since 2003. However, after a mild May, June started unseasonably chilly, with a blast of cold northerly winds carrying Arctic air, reminding everyone that occasional cold spells can still happen, even with a continuously warming climate. The UK’s summer in 2024 was the coolest since 2015, with mean temperatures in June and July being slightly below average across the UK due to south-shifting of the jet stream that brought northerly winds carrying Arctic air. August had warmer temperatures, but it was also the wettest of the three summer months despite significant regional variation. Nonetheless, brief spells of heat occurred in a few parts of the UK, with the highest temperature of 34.8C in Cambridge on 22 August.
November was marked by a brief but significant cold snap that brought the season’s first notable snowfall to parts of the UK, including Scotland and Devon. A cold snap recorded temperatures of below -10C in certain areas of northern Scotland, with a low of -11.2C in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, which was the coldest November night since 1998. Subsequently, the weather became extremely wet and windy when Storm Bert brought its most severe impacts to South Wales, causing significant flooding in Pontypridd as the River Taff burst its banks. Less than two weeks later, Storm Darragh caused widespread damage and disruption. The Met Office issued a rare red warning for wind before the storm hit, with land gales battering much of the UK, with winds exceeding 90mph (145km/h) along the Welsh and Devon coasts. The Energy Networks Association reported that around 200,000 UK homes lost power.
As 2024 draws to a close and moves towards 2025, the weather remains unsettled, and some potentially wet and volatile conditions may cause disruptions
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