Expert comment: 2022 warmest calendar year on record

Dr Stephen Burt provides commentary on 2022's weather, which saw Reading record its warmest ever year. 

He says: "As with many other parts of the UK, 2022 was the warmest calendar year on Reading's records, which began in 1908. This is despite the coldest 10 day spell in more than a decade during December.

“The mean temperature (the average of the daily max and min for each day of the year, measured in the Stevenson screen in our Atmospheric Observatory) was 11.88 °C, a full degree above the 1991-2020 average, and almost a tenth of a degree above the previous record-holder, 2006, when the average temperature was 11.79 °C.

“On our long record, all of our top 10 warmest years have occurred since and including 1989 (all of the Top 5 since and including 2006). The most recent entry in the Top 10 coldest was more than 40 years ago, in 1979 (9.20 °C).

“July saw our hottest ever day, when the screen temperature reached 37.6 °C on 19th, surpassing our previous record of 36.4 °C on 10 August 2003. In the 20th century, Reading reached 35 °C in only two summers (in 1911 and 1990), but in this century to date we have already reached this figure in five summers, including three of the last four. 

“Despite a wet autumn, the year was also very dry (588 mm, 10% below the 1991-2020 normal of 655 mm), although within the past decade both 2018 (576 mm) and 2015 (573 mm) have been drier still. July (with only 3.1 mm rainfall) was the driest on our records, as was the first half of December when only 0.2 mm fell. 

“The year was also exceptionally sunny (1784 hours of bright sunshine, 14% above normal, a daily average of 4 h 53 minutes daily; in 2021, we saw only 1483 hours sunshine, amounting to 49 minutes per day less sunshine than in 2022). This was the third year in the last five to be very sunny - 2020 recorded 1892 hours in all, and 2018 1816 hours.

“And a mild start to January, too, with temperatures surpassing 13 °C on four days within the last week. (Good for the heating bills!)"