Daily Data for Each Month of 1998

1998- Warm, dull and wet, but with a relatively cool summer

1998 was a generally warm cloudy wet year, with January through to May being especially warm, and the remainder of the year having fairly close to average temperatures.  The number of wet days was the highest recorded, illustrating that 1998 was particularly unusual for the frequency of rain, rather than the quantity.   It was memorable for its exceptional warm February and its near-relentlessly "westerly" summer.  There were only 21 days which reached 20C or above, which for a while comfortably stood as the lowest recorded (but 2008 subsequently had only 20 such days).  Like in 1997 snow, frost and hail were less frequent than usual, but it was marginally snowier than 1997.

Winter 1997/98 was exceptionally warm, assisted by a record-breaking February.  Spring 1998 was warm (despite some low maxima during April), dull and wet- indeed the wettest spring recorded.  Oddly, March and April were both colder than February this year.  Summer 1998 was not outstandingly wet by any means, but it was frequently cool and cloudy with westerly winds, average temperatures arrived at via cool days and warm nights.  Autumn 1998 was statistically near average, and December was a fairly average month as well.

January 1998- Warm and very wet but quite sunny until the 19th, then dry, cloudy and quite cold

It was very wet until the 19th, with an exceptionally active Atlantic.  Winds were frequently strong during the first week and there were active rain bands at intervals, while the 3rd and 7th had sunshine and showers.  It turned very warm and sunny on the 9th and 10th due to southerly winds.  After a spell of mixed weather there was a northerly outbreak on the 19th which was more notable for biting, gusty winds rather than intensity of cold- snow showers turned to sleet and rain overnight 19th/20th as the wind veered north-easterly.  The remainder of the month had temperatures slightly below average and it was mostly dry and cloudy, but there was a sunny day on the 27th.  This was a very wet January overall, but January 2004 was subsequently wetter.

February 1998- Exceptionally warm and dry

February started with a cold snap, and wet snow provided a dusting early on the 1st, but the northerly on the 2nd was feeble and gave only rain showers.  The rest of the first week was mainly dry with plenty of sunshine.  It turned exceptionally warm in the second week, but mostly dull and windy, with overnight minima frequently above 10C.  There was a one-off sunny day on the 13th, which saw a record high for February of 16.6C.  Apart from a brief wet interlude on the 20th/21st, the 16th-25th were dry and slightly less warm, but with a fair amount of sunshine.  Severe gales on the 27th, with considerable structural damage, were followed by a colder, sunny day on the 28th with snow flurries in the evening.  Not only was this the warmest February recorded, it was as warm as the warmest March!

March 1998- Changeable, sunny and wet until the 12th, then plenty of anticyclonic gloom

There was a changeable but reasonably sunny first third, with alternating warm and cold spells.  The snow showers late on the 28th continued through the night giving a good inch of snow early on the 1st, but this melted during the afternoon.  There were more wintry showers on the 4th and 5th (including a smattering of snow cover early on the 4th) and more general snow early on the 6th.  After a showery day on the 11th, high pressure took over and it turned warm, especially by night, and very dull with a featureless blanket of stratus.  Some breaks in the cloud led to cold nights on the 19th and 22nd, but these did not last long during the respective days.  It turned unsettled in the last week, and there was an exceptionally warm, humid day on the 28th- 18.3C being the highest I have recorded for March.  Overall it was another warm March, quite cloudy, with rainfall near normal- but it was less warm than February had been.

April 1998- Exceptionally wet, a dull first third, a wintry middle third and a bright showery last third

Low pressure controlled the weather during the first third and apart from a day of sunshine and showers on the 3rd, it was very dull with outbreaks of rain.  It turned brighter on the 9th, and rain showers turned briefly to snow in the evening.  It was dull and sleety on the 10th, then a spell of sunshine and wintry showers followed, with lying snow early on the 12th.  Dull wet weather with sleety rain arrived on the afternoon of the 16th, following early snow showers.  The last third was quite warm with a fair amount of sunshine, and there was a classic April mix of sun and showers on the 26th-28th.  Overall, it was the wettest April recorded, but although sunshine was below normal, it was not as dull as the Aprils of 1993 and 1996.  The average maximum was lower than in February and March, though higher minima meant that the mean temperature was about level with March.

May 1998- Consistently warm, a dry spell in the middle, wet end

May 1998 began fairly sunny, with a moderately cold night on the 1st/2nd- the only cold night of the month.  It turned unsettled for a time with westerly winds, then a warm humid day on the 9th began with some rumbles of thunder and saw a high of 21.8C.  The middle section of the month had high pressure in charge but there was frequent low cloud from the North Sea.  The 18th was a very warm day with 23.3C recorded.  The last third of the month was quite mixed, with a northerly incursion on the 26th/27th which brought sunshine and showers.  It was cold, dull and very wet at the end of the month.  It was one of the warmest Mays I have recorded (some subsequent ones have been about as warm).

June 1998- Hot interlude in the third week, otherwise dull and wet (though less so than June 1997)

June began with exceptionally cold dull wet weather with a maximum of 9.6C on the 2nd- one of only two instances of a sub-10C maximum in summer since I started recording.  The minimum of 3.2C on the 4th was also a record low.  Sea fog dominated on the 6th, which had thunder in the evening, and a day of sun and showers on the 7th produced hail and thunder.  The 8th-13th were mainly cloudy with some showers, and it was dull and wet again midmonth.  There was a heatwave on the 19th-21st with 27C reached on the 20th, then the last week of the month saw heavy showers and limited amounts of sunshine in between.  Although most of the month was average or cold, the hot third week was enough to raise the mean temperature fractionally above average.

July 1998- Cool, frequently bright and showery between the 10th and 24th, dull start and end

July 1998 began with a mostly cool cloudy theme during the first 9 days, with dull drizzly weather persisting all day on the 1st, though the 3rd, 4th and 7th were reasonably sunny.   The 10th-18th and 21st-24th July were quite cool, and were dominated by a mix of sunshine and showers.  It was dull and wet on the 19th and 20th, and the latter date was warm and humid with a thunderstorm in late evening.  The 25th-30th continued showery, but with the exception of the 27th, there was very little in the way of sunshine.  The 27th itself had some thunder during the afternoon, while the 31st stayed dull and dry all day.  Overall a cool cloudy wet July, and the coolest since 1993.

August 1998- Quite dry, but often cloudy and windy, cool days and warm nights

High pressure dominated over the south during August bringing plenty of sunshine there, but Cleadon was often affected by cloudy westerlies on its northern flank.  There was a very wet day on the 3rd, otherwise the first third was dry with variable amounts of sunshine.  It was very warm with hazy sunshine on the 11th, followed by a showery breakdown on the 12th.  From then until the 20th, dry bright weather alternated with dull drizzly weather from Atlantic fronts and it was generally windy.  The last third started bright and showery but then became mostly dull, with some drizzly rain on the 23rd, 26th and 29th.  There was a very cool night for the time of year overnight 26th/27th.

September 1998- Exceptionally cloudy with exceptionally warm nights

 North Sea low cloud persisted for most of the first week and there was also some frontal rain at times.  It turned bright and showery at times in the second week with a little bit of thunder on the 9th.  The 12th/13th were decidedly cool for mid-September, and I remember feeling that the weather felt about as cool as I would expect in April.  After a mostly cloudy dry spell, it became sunny and warm from the 19th to 21st with 23.1C on the latter date, but there was almost no sun at all from the 22nd onwards, due to persistent easterly winds.  The 30th was foggy with a thunderstorm during the evening.  The low mean diurnal range was exceptional, and it was every bit as dull as September 1993.

October 1998- Cool, showery and windy, dull first third then quite sunny

Easterly winds dominated in the first week which was mostly cloudy, but with a bright showery day on the 3rd.  Westerly and north-westerly winds took charge on the 10th and persisted throughout the rest of the month, bringing active rain belts and bright showery weather in between the rain belts.  There was a cold snap from the 18th to 20th with some frosty nights and sunny days.  Following a very wet day with gales on the 24th, the rest of the month had sunshine and showers, and temperatures were generally close to or just below normal.  It was the coldest October since 1993, and the fifth sunny October in a row.  It was wet, but nothing like as wet as October 2000 turned out to be.

November 1998- On the cool side but no particularly potent cold outbreaks 

It started with a cold northerly outbreak on the 3rd/4th which was cold enough for snow in inland parts of the region, but at Cleadon the precipitation fell as rain with a temperature just below 3C.  It was warm with south-westerly winds from the 7th to 12th, and bands of rain were interspersed with dry sunny weather.  There was a northerly outbreak on the 15th/16th which brought snow showers overnight 15th/16th, but by dawn showers were of rain and only tiny remnants of snow cover remained at 8am.  Snow showers occurred again around midday.  The weather was cold and dry with variable sunshine until the 22nd when it turned rather less cold due to westerly winds, although nights remained cool through to the month's end.  The 29th was a very sunny day with a frosty start.

December 1998- Often warm and cloudy, but two cold bright snowy interludes on the 4th-6th and 19th-21st

December began dull and drizzly, but a northerly flow became established on the 4th bringing a wintry mix of showers.  Light snow accumulated overnight 4th/5th and there were further snow showers during the following morning.  The northerly was notably potent for this early in the season, and as a result most of the snow cover persisted until the 7th.  The second week was cloudy and increasingly warm, with 15C on the 14th.  There was another northerly outbreak on the 20th, with some snow showers early on, and some wet frontal snow on the 21st.  The last week was unsettled and quite mild, with a severe gale on the 26th/27th.  Snow showers occurred across inland parts of the region from a south-westerly flow on the 28th, but it stayed dry at Cleadon.