City enjoys dry year

Provisional information supplied to the Tele by the Met Office revealed that Dundee’s nearest weather stations recorded mild conditions for most of last year.

Compared with a 30-year average taken for the area between 1981 and 2010, temperatures were much higher than expected and rainfall far below anticipated levels.

The average maximum temperature across the city in 2017 was 12.1C — about 6% higher than the long-term average.

Meanwhile, average minimum temperatures were 5C — 13% higher than the 30-year average for the area.

The average daily temperature for the whole of December was 8.5C, or 8% higher than the long-term average.

In addition, monitoring stations close to Dundee recorded rainfall levels of about 85% of what would be expected full degree colder across the country, and the average level of rainfall was 1490.1mm.

That’s nearly twice the level recorded in Dundee over the year.

The Met Office believes the countrywide average temperature in 2017 is set to be warmer than 2015 and 2016 but cooler than 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2007.

Dr Mark McCarthy, manager of the Met Office’s national climate information centre, said: “Although the year is likely to be the fifth-warmest in the UK since 1910, many people will probably remember the year for some of its more notable weather events.

“Events like ex-Hurricane Ophelia, which in October brought high winds and disruption to parts of Ireland and the UK, and memorably for some drew up dust from the Sahara and smoke from the wildfires in Iberia, giving us the appearance of sunset at midday.”

The nine warmest years on record since 1910 have all occurred since 2000.

TAYSIDERS enjoyed an unseasonably warm and dry 2017 with only the occasional cold snap, new data shows.

Enjoying a day at Monifieth Beach during the warm weather in July were seven-year-old Fearne Curry and Findlay Curry, 8.

Icy weather in West School Road, Downfield, last month.