The amount of monthly hours of sunshine in England follows a similar pattern each year, with the longest durations occurring in Spring and Summer. During the period in consideration, the highest amount of monthly sunshine hours was recorded in May 2020, at over 299 hours. This was more hours of sunlight than the UK average. Overcast and rainyIn addition to low periods of sunshine, England is also susceptible to precipitation. Between 2015 and 2023, the greatest number of days in which more than 1mm of rain fell was 20.4 days in March of the latter year. The driest month was May 2020, with just 2.3 rain days. Europe’s gloomiest and sunniest citiesThe United Kingdom has some of Europe's cloudiest cities, such as Glasgow, London and Manchester. On the other hand, most of Europe’s sunniest cities are located in Spain, with Alicante taking the lead at 349 hours of monthly average sunshine.

The total number of sunshine hours recorded in the United Kingdom in 2024 was over 1,274. This was a decrease from the previous year, which had 1,435 sunshine hours. Since 1930, the highest number of sunshine hours recorded in a year in the UK occurred in 1995, at 1,580.

The total monthly hours of sunlight in the UK follow a similar pattern each year. May typically has the highest monthly hours of sunshine, peaking at nearly 267 hours in 2020. Unsurprisingly, the lowest hours of sunlight occur at the end of each year.Little sunshine throughout the dayThe average annual number of daily sun hours has seen little change since the turn of the century, with the lowest average number being recorded in 2012 at 4 hours and the highest average being 4.9 in 2003 and 2022. Instruments such as the Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder are used to measure sunshine duration. However, more modern equipment is now being used as the Campbell-Stokes recorder overestimates sunshine duration. England gets the most sunshineAlthough sunshine isn't the most common sight throughout the United Kingdom, on average England receives the most monthly hours. In recent years, the longest monthly duration of sunlight was recorded in May 2020, at an average of 267 hours. In comparison, Scotland received just 215 hours of sunshine in the same month.

The lowest average daily sun hours in the United Kingdom typically occur in January and December. The highest daily sun hours recorded since 2015 was in May 2020, at an average of 9.7 hours per day. In comparison, May 2024 saw 5.6 hours of daily sunshine. High levels of monthly sunlight in 2018 Since 2014, the pattern of total monthly hours of sunlight remained relatively similar up until 2018. That year there was a noticeable increase in sunlight hours in May, June and July – with May recording 241 hours of sunlight. The following year the pattern returned to normal, but a significant increase was again recorded in 2020. Annual sun hours The average annual number of daily sun hours in the UK has remained above four hours per day since 2001, but has not increased above five. Daily sun hours were highest in 2003 at 4.9 hours per day. The following years saw sun hours remain at a similar level, until figures increased again to 4.9 hours in 2022.

Climate Observations for Small Areas is a collection of climate variables for Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England and Wales, calculated by sampling the Met Office's annual HadUK-Grid data.

Since the turn of the century there has been little change in the average daily sunshine hours in the United Kingdom. In 2024, an average of 3.8 daily sun hours was recorded. This year saw the lowest amount of daily sunlight during the period in consideration, while 2003 and 2022 saw some of the highest values, with 4.9 hours of daily sunlight. Summer sun Unsurprisingly it is the spring and summer months that receive the most daily sunshine hours. The longest duration was recorded in 2020, when the average daily sunshine in the second quarter reached 7.9 hours. In 2023, the second quarter of the year had an average of seven daily sun hours. In comparison, that same year's first and fourth quarters recorded just 2.7 and 2.1 hours of daily sunshine, respectively. Historical sunshine In 1930, the average annual sunshine hours amounted to 1,290 hours. Sunlight has traditionally been recorded using a Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder, which was developed in the late 19th century. However, measurements from this instrument can overestimate sunshine duration. Whilst still often used at non automated climate stations, more accurate modern sunshine sensors are in use these days at automated stations.

Daily dataset of temperature, rainfall and sunshine records from the Radcliffe Observatory site in Oxford, England. Variable commencement date of record by element - daily air temperatures from 1815, rainfall from 1828 and sunshine from 1921. Daily data have not yet been fully digitised for some elements (sunshine records, for example, began in Feb 1880 but have only been digitised back to Jan 1921 at present).Brief documentation is available in a short README txt file in this location.Data updated to JANUARY 2020; it is intended to be updated annually.If you use these datasets in publications, please cite the source as:Oxford Weather and Climate since 1767 by Stephen Burt and Tim Burt, published by Oxford University Press, 2019.Please let us know < email to rms@ouce.ox.ac.uk > should you find any errors in these datasets.

This dataset is associated with the following publication, where further details are provided and which should be cited for further applications:

Huang et al. 2022, Non-linear response of temperature-related mortality risk to global warming in England and Wales, Environ. Res. Lett., https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac50d5.

The data contain daily temperature-related mortality estimates for ten NUTS 1 regions of England and Wales over the period 1900 to 2099, based on temperatures from the 2018 UK Climate Projections (UKCP18) simulations. Exposure-response relationships are based on present-day observations and extrapolated where necessary.

Variables in the csv files are as follows:

"tmean": daily mean temperature (in degrees C)
"bAD": backward attributable deaths
"fAD": forward attributable deaths

RCP 8.5 and RCP 2.6 scenarios are considered, as indicated in the file names. Model numbers refer to UKCP18 climate models.

Subscribers can find out export and import data of 23 countries by HS code or product’s name. This demo is helpful for market analysis.

The highest average temperature recorded in 2024 until November was in August, at 16.8 degrees Celsius. Since 2015, the highest average daily temperature in the UK was registered in July 2018, at 18.7 degrees Celsius. The summer of 2018 was the joint hottest since institutions began recording temperatures in 1910. One noticeable anomaly during this period was in December 2015, when the average daily temperature reached 9.5 degrees Celsius. This month also experienced the highest monthly rainfall in the UK since before 2014, with England, Wales, and Scotland suffering widespread flooding. Daily hours of sunshine Unsurprisingly, the heat wave that spread across the British Isles in 2018 was the result of particularly sunny weather. July 2018 saw an average of 8.7 daily sun hours in the United Kingdom. This was more hours of sun than was recorded in July 2024, which only saw 5.8 hours of sun. Temperatures are on the rise Since the 1960s, there has been an increase in regional temperatures across the UK. Between 1961 and 1990, temperatures in England averaged nine degrees Celsius, and from 2013 to 2022, average temperatures in the country had increased to 10.3 degrees Celsius. Due to its relatively southern location, England continues to rank as the warmest country in the UK.

Monthly data is compared to 30 year averages (1961- 1990, 1971 - 2000, 1981-2010) for mean temperature, rainfall and sunshine hours.Anomalies are available from January 2001 to date.
Data is shown for UK, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The United Kingdom's hottest summer ever recorded was in 2018, with an average temperature of 15.76 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, 2023 saw the eighth hottest summer in the UK, with an average temperature of 15.35 degrees. In the last couple of decades, five of the top 10 warmest summers in the UK were recorded. New temperature records in 2022 In summer 2022, record-breaking temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius were recorded at several locations across the UK. Accordingly, 2022 was also the UK's warmest year on record, with the average annual temperature rising above 10 degrees Celsius for the first time. Since temperature recording began in 1884, the hottest years documented in the country have all occurred after 2003. England: the warmest country in the UK Amongst the countries that comprise the United Kingdom, England has generally seen the highest annual mean temperatures. In 2022, England’s average temperature also reached a new record high, at nearly 11 degrees Celsius. And while it’s not a typical sight in the United Kingdom, England also registered the most hours of sunshine on average, with Scotland being the gloomiest country out of the four.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between mortality rates in persons of both sexes and in various age groups and environmental indices, available for the 83 County Boroughs of England and Wales. The mortality rates are for the periods 1948-54, 1958-64, 1950-53, and 1965-67.
Main Topics:

Variables
Mortality (for deaths from all causes and for certain specific causes), live births, stillbirths, infant mortality rates. Demographic: per cent by age groups, population density by area. Household: amenities, tenure, rateable values, population density (persons per room).
Meteorological: temperature, sunshine, rainfall.
Per capita retail sales, unemployment, male employment, local authority expenditure.
Water hardness, air purity, smoking habits.
Measurements of population density, social class, overcrowding and education were made based on the article in Brit. J. Prev Soc Med 1959, 13, 14. by C Daly.

The annual number of rain days in the UK has fluctuated over the past three decades. In 2024, there were 164 days in which 1 mm or more of rain fell. The year with the greatest number of rain days was 2000 when 178.5 days had at least 1 mm of rain. England is the driest country in the UK England is on average the driest country in the United Kingdom. In 2024, the country recorded an annual rainfall of 1020 mm. After England, Northern Ireland is the country that receives the least amount of rainfall across the UK. Wettest regions in Britain Despite Cardiff being the wettest city in the United Kingdom according to the Met Office, Scotland had received on average the largest volume of annual rainfall in the past ten years. The northern and western regions of the UK – where rainfall is arriving from the Atlantic – tend to be the wettest in the country.