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.

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.

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

The quarterly average of daily sun hours has fluctuated over the years in the United Kingdom. In each year, there is an overall trend of higher daily sun hours in the second and third quarter, which comprises spring and summer time in the UK. During winter and autumn, the first and fourth quarter of each year, average daily sun hours are almost half of those recorded during summer time. Between 2010 and the 2024, the quarter with the greatest sun hours was the second quarter of 2019, with 7.9 hours per day, whilst the fourth quarter of 2015 recorded a low of 1.8 hours per day.

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 *** 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 **** days in March of the latter year. The driest month was May 2020, with just *** 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 *** hours of monthly average sunshine.

UKCP09 Regional values Monthly Averages - Sunshine duration (hours per day) Long-term averages for the 1961-1990 climate baseline are also available for 14 administrative regions and 23 river basins. They have been produced for all the monthly and annual variables, apart from mean wind speed, days of sleet/snow falling, and days of snow lying, for which data start after 1961. Each regional value is an average of the 5 x 5 km grid cell values that fall within it. The datasets are provided as space-delimited text files.

The datasets have been created with financial support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they are being promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/content/view/12/689/.

The data files are obtained by clicking on the links in the table below. Each text file contains values of the 1961-1990 baseline average for each administrative region and for each river basin. Monthly variables have 12 values for each region (one for each month) whereas annual variables have just one value (the annual average).

To view this data you will have to register on the Met Office website, here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climatechange/science/monitoring/ukcp09/gds_form.html.

The UK hourly solar radiation data contain the amount of solar irradiance received during the hour ending at the specified time. All sites report 'global' radiation amounts. This is also known as 'total sky radiation' as it includes both direct solar irradiance and 'diffuse' irradiance as a result of light scattering. Some sites also provide separate diffuse and direct irradiation amounts, depending on the instrumentation at the site. For these the sun's path is tracked with two pyrometers - one where the path to the sun is blocked by a suitable disc to allow the scattered sunlight to be measured to give the diffuse measurement, while the other has a tube pointing at the sun to measure direct solar irradiance whilst blanking out scattered sun light.

For details about the different measurements made and the limited number of sites making them please see the MIDAS Solar Irradiance table linked to in the online resources section of this record.

This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. These include the addition of data for calendar year 2023.

The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: SYNOP, HCM, AWSHRLY, MODLERAD, ESAWRADT and DRADR35 messages. The data spans from 1947 to 2023.

This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record.

UKCP09 25 km gridded data for sunshine duration Monthly long-term averages for the 1961-1990 climate baseline are also available for the 25 x 25 km grid boxes of the HadRM3 regional climate model. Each 25 x 25 km grid box value is an average of the 5 x 5 km grid cell values that fall within it. The datasets have been created with financial support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they are being promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/content/view/12/689/. Zip file contains 17 text files (one for each month, season and the year as a whole). The individual grids are named according to the following convention: vvvvvv_1961-1990_LTA_25km_ppp.txt where 'vvvvvv' is the variable name and 'ppp' is the averaging period, i.e. jan, feb, mar, etc. (for individual months), djf (winter), mam (spring), jja (summer), son (autumn) or ann (for the annual average). Single netCDF file that contains the data for all months, seasons and the year as a whole. To view this data you will have to register on the Met Office website, here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/UKCP09/register

During the period in consideration, the month with the most hours of bright sunshine in Wales was ********. With a total of *** hours, this was noticeably more sunshine than was recorded in the same month of the previous year, and more than the UK average. The shortest duration occurred in *************, at **** hours.

ukcp09-Gridded datasets based on surface observations have been generated for a range of climatic variables. The primary purpose of this data resource is to encourage and facilitate research into climate change impacts and adaptation. This data set includes monthly ukcp09-Gridded datasets at 5 x 5 km resolution. A grid for each month covering the whole of the UK, downloadable in 10-year blocks.

The datasets have been created with financial support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they are being promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/content/view/12/689/.

To view this data you will have to register on the Met Office website, here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/UKCP09/register

Site specific (293 individual stations) monthly average (1981 - 2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days) 
        Monthly mean wind speeds at 10m (knots)

        District and Region monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days)

        UK monthly average (1961-1990, 1971-2000, 1981-2010)

        The data consists of:
        Max Temp (degrees C) 
        Min Temp (degrees C) 
        Sunshine (hours) 
        Rainfall (mm) 
        Raindays >=1.0mm (days) 
        Days of Air Frost (days)

UKCP09: 5 km gridded data - monthly averages for the sunshine duration (hours per day). The data set contains 12 files (one for each month for the 1961-1990 average period). The individual grids are named according to the following convention: variablename_mmm_Average_Actual.txt where mmm is the month name (e.g. Jan).

The datasets have been created with financial support from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and they are being promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09). http://ukclimateprojections.defra.gov.uk/content/view/12/689/.

To view this data you will have to register on the Met Office website, here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/climate-monitoring/UKCP09/register

Context Simple time series data for weather prediction time series projects.

Content The data contains the following information from the UK Met Office location at Armagh, Northern Ireland. The data runs from Jan 1853 to Nov 2020 and includes the following monthly data fields:

yyyy = Year mm = Month tmax = Maximum temperature (Celsius) tmin = Minimum temperature (Celsius) af = Count of Air Frost days in the given month rain = Total rainfall (mm) sun = Sunshine duration (hrs) Acknowledgements Provided by the UK Met Office: https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/historic-station-data Available under Open Government Licence: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Example code The following Python code will load into a Pandas DataFrame:

colspecs = [(3, 7), (9,11),(14,18),(22,26),(32,34),(37,42),(45,50)] data = pd.read_fwf('../input/heathrow-weather-data/heathrowdata.txt',colspecs=colspecs)

The following will remove the first few lines of text

data = data[3:].reset_index(drop=True) data.columns = data.iloc[1] data = data[3:].reset_index(drop=True)

Since 2015, the month with greatest deviation of daily sun hours in the UK was recorded in July 2018. This month saw 2.5 more sun hours than the 10-year average. In comparison, June 2016 saw 2.5 hours less daily sunshine than usual for that time of year.

Data Source

Data Source : UK GOV

Sunshine data taken from a Campbell Stokes recorder.

(no more from an automatic Kipp & Zonen sensor marked with a #)

Content

Place: Cambridge.

Location: 543500E 260600N, Lat 52.245 Lon 0.102.

Height above mean sea level: 26 metres.

Columns

• year: Date in format YYYY.
• month: Date in format MM.
• tmax: Maximum temperature of the day in °C.
• tmin: Minimum temperature of the day in °C.
• af: Numbers of air frost days in a month.
• rain: Rainfall in millimeters.
• sun_hr: Sun hours in hours.

Missing Value

Missing values are marked as -1.

Data Processing

• Process RAW data (plain text) to csv format.
• Original data is marked with a * after the value indicating Estimated.
  • -> Symbol * has been removed and treated as normal value.
• Missing data (more than 2 days missing in month) is marked by ---.
  • -> This is marked as -1, indicating missing value

The UK daily weather observation data contain meteorological values measured on a 24 hour time scale. The measurements of sunshine duration, concrete state, snow depth, fresh snow depth, and days of snow, hail, thunder and gail were attained by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK operated and transmitted within DLY3208, NCM, AWSDLY and SYNOP messages. The data span from 1887 to 2020. For details of observations see the relevant sections of the MIDAS User Guide linked from this record for the various message types. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. Of particular note, however, is that as well as including data for 2020, historical data recovery has added further data for Eastbourne (1887-1910). This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Currently this represents approximately 95% of available daily weather observations within the full MIDAS collection.

The UK daily weather observation data contain meteorological values measured on a 24 hour time scale. The measurements of sunshine duration, concrete state, snow depth, fresh snow depth, and days of snow, hail, thunder and gail were attained by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK operated and transmitted within DLY3208, NCM, AWSDLY and SYNOP messages. The data span from 1887 to 2024. For details of observations see the relevant sections of the MIDAS User Guide linked from this record for the various message types. This version supersedes the previous version of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. These include the addition of data for calendar year 2024. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by the Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. Currently this represents approximately 95% of available daily weather observations within the full MIDAS collection.

The UK daily rainfall data contain rainfall accumulation and precipitation amounts over a 24 hour period. The data were collected by observation stations operated by the Met Office across the UK and transmitted within the following message types: NCM, AWSDLY, DLY3208 and SSER. The data spans from 1853 to 2023. Over time a range of rain gauges have been used - see section 5.6 and the relevant message type information in the linked MIDAS User Guide for further details. This version supersedes the previous version (202308) of this dataset and a change log is available in the archive, and in the linked documentation for this record, detailing the differences between this version and the previous version. The change logs detail new, replaced and removed data. These include the addition of data for calendar year 2023. This dataset is part of the Midas-open dataset collection made available by the Met Office under the UK Open Government Licence, containing only UK mainland land surface observations owned or operated by Met Office. It is a subset of the fuller, restricted Met Office Integrated Data Archive System (MIDAS) Land and Marine Surface Stations dataset, also available through the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis - see the related dataset section on this record. A large proportion of the UK raingauge observing network (associated with WAHRAIN, WADRAIN and WAMRAIN for hourly, daily and monthly rainfall measurements respectively) is operated by other agencies beyond the Met Office, and are consequently currently excluded from the Midas-open dataset. Currently this represents approximately 13% of available daily rainfall observations within the full MIDAS collection.