Daily Data for Each Month of 2000

2000- Outstandingly wet, quite warm, average amounts of sunshine

This was easily the wettest year that I have recorded, and the autumn in particular was outstandingly wet.  Correspondingly, mean sea-level pressure was exceptionally low (check out the anomaly for November!).    For the fourth consecutive year, frost and snow were well below normal.  It was also the fourth successive warm year but not as warm as the last three, with a mean below 10C.

Winter 1999/2000 was fairly warm and changeable with westerly winds, despite a rather cold December.  There was a fair amount of wet snow but very little of it settled.  Sunshine was much above normal.  Spring 2000 was warm and wet, for the third spring in succession.  Summer 2000 was dull with close to average temperature.  Autumn 2000 was outstandingly wet, with close to average sunshine and temperatures.  The year ended with quite a topsy turvy December, with a very warm start but cold snowy end.

January 2000- Quite a warm dry sunny month with an anticyclonic spell 14th-26th

January started with two dry sunny days, then a spell of warm, unsettled weather with south-westerly winds.  There was a brief cold incursion on the 4th when rain turned to snow on the back end of a frontal system, otherwise it was bog-standard stuff with rain belts alternating with drier brighter weather..  There was a northerly incursion on the 13th/14th, which was very feeble in terms of cold, but produced a large number of sharp showers.  A high pressure spell followed with variable amounts of cloud.  There was another half-hearted northerly on the 22nd which brought some sleety showers early on.  A severe gale on the 29th, with structural damage.  This month was notable for temperature homogeneity and there were no notable cold outbreaks.

February 2000- Warm, sunny at times, changeable, with a major snowstorm on the 16th

February began with a week of warm, cloudy drizzly weather, and it was particularly dull from the 4th to 7th which was also the warmest spell of the month.  It was much brighter during the second week with frequent north-westerly incursions bringing sunshine and showers, and the showers turned sleety late on the 8th and fell as hail, sleet and snow on the 12th.  The only cold snap of note was on the 16th, when an unexpected heavy snowstorm arrived around midday, persisting until early afternoon.  It was the only significant lying snow event of the entire 1999/00 season.  The rest of the month was quite dry with a sunny spell between the 19th and 25th.

March 2000- Very warm and dry, uneventful, many dull dry days but also some very sunny days

It began with a couple of cold northerly outbreaks with sunshine and snow showers on the 1st and 3rd, especially the latter date, but there were no accumulations on the ground.  Warm, cloudy, windy weather took over between the 7th and 13th with an exceptionally high minimum of 12.8C on the 8th.  A bright showery north-westerly on the 14th was followed by three dull dry days.  In contrast, the 18th-20th were very sunny, with a maximum of 16.1C on the 20th.  After a dull drizzly spell, a spell of bright weather with occasional showers and near-average temperatures followed, but the last two days were dry and cloudy.

April 2000- The second exceptionally wet April in the space of three years

April started with a dry sunny day but it went dull on the 2nd and 3rd.  Heavy sleety rain early on the 3rd was replaced by snow showers and the 4th had sunshine and snow showers throughout the day.  The next few days were quite sunny, but it became dull and wet on the 11th-13th.  Mostly cool cloudy weather followed for a time.  Warm southerlies brought a mix of sunshine and showers between the 18th and 24th inclusive, and there was a thunderstorm on the evening of the 20th.  The 25th-29th were dull and very wet again, but the 30th was quite a sunny day.  April was colder than March this year.

May 2000- Warm dull dry first half, cooler bright showery second half

May began with two reasonably sunny days but after that, low cloud dominated due to the persistent easterly winds.  There was also a little drizzle at times.  As winds turned southerly it turned very warm around midmonth with 23.8C on the 15th, notably warm for mid-May.  The second half was much more unsettled but also much sunnier.  A big hailstorm accompanied by thunder whitened the ground on the 18th, during which the temperature fell to 4.6C.  Sunshine and showers was the domin/at theme thereafter, though there was a one-off dull wet day on the 27th.  Distant rumbles of thunder occurred on both the 28th and 29th.  Overall May was quite warm and wet, but it was not as warm as the last two Mays, and it was the wettest since 1993.

June 2000- Exceptionally wet on the 3rd/4th, hot third week, otherwise often dry and cloudy

After a showery day on the 1st, the 2nd-4th were dull and wet, with a sub-10C maximum on the 3rd, and the 4th had a remarkable 37mm of rain- well over half the normal total for the entire of June.  Through to midmonth westerly winds prevailed and it was mainly dry but cloudy.  Hot sunny weather took charge from the 16th to 20th with highs of 26C on two of the days, due to southerly winds.  It turned cooler with sunshine and showers on the 21st, and after a dull dry start, the afternoon of the 22nd had sunshine mixed with some very sharp showers.  From the 23rd onwards the weather was mainly dry and cloudy with a “cloudy” anticyclone settling over the British Isles.

July 2000- Dull and cold for most of the month

Low cloud persisted during the first week due to frequent easterly winds and there was almost no sun at all.  On the 6th there was a notably low maximum of only 11.5C.  Northerly winds brought more cool cloudy weather in the second week though it was not quite as dull as the first week.  The night of the 10th/11th was notably cool.  High pressure came closer in the third week bringing dry and mainly sunny weather with some warm days, but it was dull again from the 22nd-25th.  The end of the month was quite warm with a mix of sunshine and occasional sharp showers, notably so on the 28th.  The coldest July that I have recorded.

August 2000- Warm humid first half, sunny second half with occasional sharp showers

The month started mainly cloudy and quite warm and humid, but there were some sunny days between the 5th and 8th.  Weak frontal systems gave rise to a very dull spell on the 10th-15th, though the sun broke through on the 12th giving a high of 25.4C.  From the 16th to 20th, sunshine and showers dominated and there were some sharp showers but also generous amounts of sunshine.  Thunder occurred around lunchtime on the 17th.  On the 21st, Cleadon “escaped” with sea fog and drizzle while the rest of the country had severe convective storms.  Mostly sunny weather followed, with further sharp showers on the 27th.  It was dull and wet on the 31st.

September 2000- Quite warm, but dull and wet

 It began with some showery days, and there was thunder and lightning to the west on the 1st.  A few sunny days followed, then it became cloudy and humid.  There was a big thunderstorm late on the 11th, though it was shrouded by sea fog as often happens with thunderstorms near the Tyne & Wear coast.  The rest of the month was unsettled with frequent Atlantic weather systems bringing spells of dull wet weather.  There was a warm, sunny day on the 23rd due to an incursion of southerly winds.  The wettest September since 1995.

October 2000- Exceptionally wet but quite sunny

October started with a few days of sun and showers, and there was some thunder on the afternoon of the 5th- surprisingly so for the time of year in a showery north-westerly.  The second week was mostly dull and extremely wet.  Bright, showery weather returned for the middle part of the month.  Changeable westerlies and near-normal temperatures then followed from the 20th to 28th.  The 29th was a very windy showery day.  Some inland parts of the region had snow early on the 30th, but at Cleadon it fell as “cold rain” with a temperature of 3C, due to a slight drift off the warm North Sea.  It was the wettest October recorded, marginally ahead of the subsequent wet October of 2004.

November 2000- Exceptionally wet again due to some slow moving frontal systems, but also many sunny and dry days

I was repeatedly told that Cleadon was getting the best of the weather this month, usually on days when the rest of the country had sunshine and showers and Cleadon was staying dry due to the shelter of the Pennines.  Indeed, the only sunshine-and-showers day in the entire month was the 11th, despite frequent showery north-westerly regimes.  It was very dull and wet from the 6th-8th with 78mm total, and cloudy on the 18th, but the usual theme was of sunshine and shower clouds out to the west.  It was cloudy in the last third and turned much warmer from the 25th, following consistently near to slightly below average temperatures from the 1st-24th.  The wettest November recorded.

December 2000- Very warm cloudy first half, notably cold bright snowy end

The first 12 days were outstandingly warm due to persistent southerly winds, and all but one of the days had a double-figure maximum.  There was a northerly outbreak on the 15th which caused temperatures to fall below average for a time, then there was a dull dry anticyclonic spell until the 23rd.  Much brighter weather spread south on the 24th, with the onshore wind firing in occasional hail and sleet showers.  Christmas Day was sunny, then the 26th-31st were exceptionally cold, with some snow showers early on the 26th.  Although Cleadon missed the snowfalls from the polar low on the 28th, east-coast snow showers developed during the day and became heavy and prolonged overnight 28th/29th, with one loud clap of thunder at 4:50am.  The cold spell had a very "atmospheric" feel.