September weather

September began with a ridge of high pressure. Westerlies dominated from the 2nd until the 12th, however, which brought areas of rain interspersed with brighter, showery weather, although at times high pressure increasingly influenced the south.

From mid-september it turned hot in places, especially south-east England, and the 16th to 21st was settled with high pressure and plenty of warm sunshine for most parts of the UK. From the 22nd of the month the weather turned much cooler and more unsettled. On the 25th Norfolk was very wet and windy. With clear skies and slackening northerly winds further west from the 25th to 27th frost developed overnight in some places.

The provisional UK mean temperature was 12.9°C, 0.2°C above the 1981 to 2010 long-term average. Mean maximum temperatures were generally up to 1°C above average, but nearer 1.5°C above average in parts of south-east England. Mean minimum temperatures were mostly up to 0.5°C below average.

September was a dry, sunny month for most of the UK, with 77% of average rainfall and 117% of average sunshine, but rainfall was above average in Norfolk and in parts of western Scotland.

The UK monthly extremes were as follows: a maximum temperature of 31.3°C was recorded at Frittenden, Kent, on the 15th; minimum temperatures of -5.0°C were recorded at Altnaharra, Sutherland, on the 24th and at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, on the 27th; in the 24 hours to 9 am on the 13th 88.4 mm of rain fell at Glen Nevis, Inverness-shire; and wind gusts of 58 knots (67 mph) were observed at Weybourne, Norfolk, and Donna Nook, Lincolnshire, on the 25th.