The weather in 2012 - The Guardian

This year started with three dry months which, after below-average precipitation in 2011, meant that drought orders were enforced in early April. By the time the announcement was made, however, it had started raining, and nine rainy months followed. It is this for which 2012 will be remembered, especially the extensive flooding in April, June, early July, late September, October, late November and late December. There was a respite for a while in July and August, more or less coinciding with the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Temperatures

January was the mildest for four years, although there was a three-week long spell of wintry weather from late January to mid February and the temperature dipped to –18.3C at Chesham, Buckinghamshire, on 11 February. There was an extended warm spell in late March which brought record-breaking temperatures to eastern Scotland: Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, recorded a maximum of 23.6C. Thereafter the weather became persistently cool with the temperature marginally above average only in May and August. The coolest with respect to average was July which was 1.2 degrees below normal.

Rainfall

The first three months were dry, especially February and March: together the driest since 1993. But from April onwards rainfall was above average with the sole exception of May. Averaged over England and Wales, both April and June were the wettest such months in a record stretching back to 1766 – the only instance of two record-breaking months in a single year. The rainfall for the year for England and Wales is only slightly behind 2000, 1872, 1852, and 1768, which is all the more surprising considering the drought of January to March.

Sunshine

January, March, May, September, November and December were all sunnier than average, with January the sunniest since 2003 and March since 1929. The remaining months were cloudier than average, notably April which was the dullest since 1998, and June which was the dullest since 1987. The summer quarter, June, July and August, was the cloudiest since the notoriously bad summer of 1954.