Daily Data for Each Month of 2001

2001- Quite sunny, close to average temperature, close to average snow, and notably frosty

2001 featured 59 air frosts which is well in excess of the next frostiest years (1995 and 2008 both had 40 air frosts).  The reason for this was that most of the colder-than-average temperatures occurred in the winter half-year.  Despite this, snow amounts were only about average, mainly because some snow events were marginal with sleet at the coast and snow inland.  In contrast, the frequency of thunder was exceptionally low, the lowest since 1993.

Winter 2000/01 was very wet but also very sunny, with close to average amounts of snow.  Spring 2001 was quite interesting, it was often cold and wintry up until the end of April but then had a very memorable warm dry sunny May.  Summer 2001 was fairly warm and dry but cloudy, while Autumn 2001 was notably warm due to the phenomenally warm October.  The year ended with a cold bright December.

January 2001- Sunny and cold

After a cloudy, often wet start, sunshine and showers dominated during the latter part of the first week, with westerly winds.  It turned colder on the 9th/10th with showers turning wintry for a time, but a wind picked up off the North Sea turning showers back to rain.  It was dry and sunny with high pressure on the 13th and 14th but cloud moved in off the North Sea overnight 14th/15th, causing the temperature to rise by 7C in just one hour.  There were some wintry showers on the 18th-20th.  Showers of sleet, snow pellets and snow occurred on the 18th, and the 19th had snow early on, but this melted in the afternoon as the wind picked up off the sea.  The last week was very sunny, with increasingly frosty nights.  Like in January 2000, the temperature homogeneity was notable with no extremes of warmth or cold.

February 2001- Cold early and late, with a warm sunny spell in the middle

It began with a week of cloudy and fairly cold weather.  There was an exceptionally wet day on the 4th, with sleet all day, while a few miles further inland there was a lot of snow.  Cold bright weather took over on the 8th/9th.  High pressure then took charge, and the period 12-20 February was exceptionally sunny with warm days and cold frosty nights.  A northerly outbreak followed on the 22nd with rain showers turning to snow during late evening, and there were significant, albeit short-lived, snowfalls late on the 23rd and 24th with a thaw in the sun during the day.  Cloudy weather with some sleet on the 26th and 27th (overnight 27th/28th again saw sleet at Cleadon and a deep snow cover just a few miles further west), then sunshine and snow showers followed on the 28th.  It was the wettest February that I have recorded- yet sunshine was well above average for the seventh consecutive February.

March 2001- Exceptionally cold start, sunny until the 20th then cloudy, frequent wintry showers and easterly winds

March 2001 started with an exceptional cold snap.  Most of the early snow cover on the 1st melted in the sun as the temperature reached 4C, but 8cm accumulated from heavy east-coast snowstorms on the 2nd.  The minimum of -10.2C overnight 2nd/3rd is the lowest that I have recorded, even beating late December 1995.  After a warm changeable second week, it turned cold with easterly winds again between the 17th and 21st, and these brought a mix of sunshine and wintry showers.  The 18th had the most showers, with frequent accumulations inland but the snow struggled to settle at Cleadon.  After generally sunny weather in the first two-thirds, the last third was quite dull.  A third easterly incursion brought hail, sleet and snow showers on the 25th/26th also.  We were told by the media that this was a dull wet month- because that's how it was in the South East, but in the Tyneside area if anything sunshine was a little above normal.  It was easily the coldest March since 1996.

April 2001- Cool and wet, quite cloudy

April started with a couple of warm days, with some heavy downpours late on the 2nd, followed by a few days of sun and showers.  The 7th was very cold dull and wet.  It was mostly cold and cloudy in the third week but the 13th was a sunny day.  There was a northerly outbreak between the 17th and 20th which brought some wintry showers on all four days, but the 18th and 19th had both sunshine and snow showers mainly restricted to inland areas while the coast was often dry and cloudy.  The last week was mixed with low pressure in charge but North Sea low cloud sometimes made its presence felt.   Overall the coldest April recorded- even though it was only 0.5C below the 1971-2000 average!

May 2001- Warm, dry, exceptionally sunny, particularly in the first half

The first third of May was fairly cool by night but predomin/atly dry and sunny, and it turned warm on the 2nd.  The only cloudy days were the 3rd and 9th.  The dry sunny weather continued until the 13th and it turned warmer.  There was an unsettled spell midmonth and there was some thunder in a sharp shower on the 16th, but the 17th saw showers kept away inland as the coast had North Sea stratus and drizzle.  The last third was warm, dry and sunny, but not quite as sunny as the first 13 days had been.  After two warm, humid nights on the 26th and 27th, sunshine and showers dominated on the last four days.  This was probably the sunniest of any month between August 1995 and July 2006.

June 2001- On the cool side, but partly offset by a warm humid end

There was a northerly outbreak on the 2nd which was followed by a notably cold night overnight 2nd/3rd.  There was a further northerly outbreak between the 6th and 9th which brought sunshine and showers.  The 10th-14th were mostly dry and cloudy but some breaks in the cloud overnight led to some low minima.  It was dull and wet from the 15th to 17th.  Although pressure rose towards the 22nd June the weather was dry and cloudy.  It turned dry and sunny from the 23rd-25th, then the rest of the month was warm and humid.  The Tyne and Wear coast missed out on the widespread thunderstorms that affected the British Isles on the 26th.

July 2001- Quite warm, dry and cloudy

Warm, humid, reasonably sunny weather on the first three days was followed by a spell of North Sea stratus as winds blew predomin/atly from the east.  It turned cool and unsettled and quite cloudy in the third week, and there was a very dull cold wet spell on the 13th/14th with a remarkably low maximum of 11.6C on the 14th.  It continued mostly cloudy until the 25th, even though high pressure started to establish.  From the 26th onwards, the weather was dry, warm and sunny, and it was hot on the 28th and 29th with 26C recorded.

August 2001- Quite warm, mixed, average amounts of sunshine

August 2001 began with a couple of warm sunny days, then it turned showery with westerly winds.  It was very dull and wet on the 7th and 8th.  A spell of dry, quite sunny weather followed from the 11th to 14th, then it became mixed in the third week, and thunder occurred on the evening of the 15th- the only thunderstorm of the entire summer.  The weather was quite sunny on the 22nd but turned very dull from the 23rd to 26th.  Mostly sunny weather saw out the month.

September 2001- Exceptionally dull second half, cool days and warm nights

 There was a mixed bag of weather during the first half, with predomin/atly north-westerly winds.  Northerly outbreaks on the 8th/9th and 13th-16th brought bright showery weather.  From the 17th to 27th the weather was exceptionally dull, hardly a glimmer of sunshine except for a one-off sunny day on the 22nd, and northerly and north-easterly winds brought some drizzle at times.  It was cold by day, but often quite warm by night.  The last three days were much warmer, and the 28th was sunny with occasional showers.

October 2001- Exceptionally warm, especially by night

The first week was dry and sunny due to the shelter of the Pennines while everywhere else had sunshine and showers.  There was a warm, sunny spell in the second week with 19.8C on the 11th.  Low cloud was common in the third week as south-easterly winds blew frequently.  It continued warm during the last third of the month, with some frontal rain at times but most days were dry with some sunny intervals.  The lowest minimum in the entire month was 5.3C which is exceptional for October- all of the last eight Octobers have had at least one minimum below 2C, including the exceptionally warm one in 1995.  It was the warmest October, and it was almost as warm as September had been.

November 2001- Sunny first half, dull second half, a very dramatic Arctic outbreak on the 8th/9th

The first week was mostly warm and sunny, with westerly winds.  A potent northerly outbreak arrived on the 8th, and the statistics paint a misleading picture, for the daytime maxima on the 8th and 9th were 4C and 5C respectively.  Temperatures fell to 2C overnight 7th/8th in sleet and hail showers but jumped to 6C as a gusty onshore wind picked up.  A thunderstorm during the early morning was followed by an abrupt fall to around 1C and frequent snow showers.  The 8th had sunshine and snow showers for most of the day, then overnight 8th/9th the wind picked up again bringing temperatures as high as 7C, but there was more snow the next morning.   There was a second, modest northerly on the 13th and another on the 22nd.  It was mostly sunny until the 15th but the second half was very dull.  It was exceptionally warm on the 30th.

December 2001- Sunny and cold, a snowy last third

The first week was changeable and quite warm with westerly winds but it turned cold, sunny and frosty in the second week.  A slight drift off the North Sea brought cloudy weather on the 13th and 14th, and after that it turned brighter with a few showers.  A couple of northerly outbreaks occurred between the 19th and 23rd, the latter resulting in a very snowy day on the 22nd with heavy blowing snow showers.  Another northerly on Christmas Day brought a brief flurry of wet snow in the early morning, but it was not a proper White Christmas.  Another northerly brought snow on the 30th, though it turned briefly to hail and sleet around midday as the wind picked up off the sea.