As part of the 50th anniversary of the University of Reading’s Department of Meteorology, Roger Brugge and Stephen Burt wrote a book entitled One hundred years of Reading weather, published in June 2015.

The authors realise that parts of almost any weather book containing statistical information will tend to become out of date almost as soon as it is written. This is especially so in the case of a detailed study of the weather in which, by necessity, the amount of information provided has been reduced in order to provide the reader with a manageably-sized volume and when it is generally accepted that the climate of the location under study (Reading) is ever-changing!

The purpose of this webpage is, therefore, to keep the reader up-to-date with news about Reading’s weather as new, noteworthy events occur or as records are broken.

Reference is made to chapters, pages and tables of the book as appropriate – so that the reader may incorporate their own changes should they wish to do so.

Document last updated: 2 February 2020 Click on the highlighted links to see updates to the relevant book contents Errata Chapters updated: 1. The climate of Reading 2. The makers of the observations 3. The annual cycle 4. January 5. February 6. March  7. April 8. May 9. June 10. July 11. August 12. September 13. October 14. November 15. December 16. Annual 17. The seasons – winter, spring, summer and autumn spring summer autumn winter 18. Holiday weather 19. Warmest, driest, sunniest … 20. Droughts and wet spells 21. Earliest and latest dates 22. ‘Top ten’ extremes 23. On this date…  – current notes for today can be found here.

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Errata

Page 90: The longest continuous period of unbroken snow cover commenced on 27 December 1962, not 1963 as stated.

Page 116: Thus records do suggest a greater tendency for wet days to occur twice as frequently as might be expected during this weekend holiday period.

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FEBRUARY

Two cold but exceptionally clear days on 24 and 25 February 2018 broke new February sunshine records. Since sunshine records commenced at the university in 1956, the sunniest February day has managed 9.5 hours of bright sunshine (measured by the Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorder): this was recorded on 20 Feb 1970, 27 Feb 1973 and 26 Feb 1977. On Sunday 25 Feb 2018, the day’s sunshine totalled an unbroken 9.6 hours. The previous day, Saturday 24 February, recorded 9.3 hours of sunshine, which itself would have been the third-sunniest February day on record, and either day would be credible at midsummer. Together, the total for the two days of 18.9 hours exceeded any two combined February days in over 60 years of records.

A remarkable mild and sunny spell of weather for late February occurred 25-27 February 2019. The temperature reached 19.5 °C on the 26th with a diurnal temperature range of 20 degC – both new high records for the month. On the 26th 9.5 h of bright sunshine was recorded – just 0.1 h less than the February record set he previous year. The highest February air temperatures and the sunniest days are now as follows:

Rank	Mildest days
1	19.5 °C, 26 February 2019
2	17.9 °C, 27 February 2019
3	17.4 °C, 28 February 1959
4	17.4 °C, 25 February 2019
5	17.0 °C, 23 February 1990

 

Rank	Sunniest days
1	9.6 h, 25 February 2018
2	9.5 h, 20 February 1970
3	9.5 h, 27 February 1973
4	9.5 h, 26 February 1977
5	9.5 h, 26 February 2019

The sunny spell helped to make February 2019 the second sunniest February in the Reading record

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
126.7	45.3	2008
123.4	44.2	2019
115.9	41.5	1988
115.4	41.3	1970
107.7	38.4	1998

 

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March

March 2017 was the warmest March in the Reading record. There were no air frosts during the month, following just 2 air frosts in February while the following April recorded just 1 air frost. The minimum temperature recorded on the 30th was 10.9 °C, while 10.8 °C was the lowest temperature on the 19th. Tables 6.1 and 6.3 now read as follows:

Rank	Mildest nights
1	12.4 °C, 30 Mar 1998
2	11.8 °C, 19 Mar 1990
3	11.0 °C, 27 Mar 2006
4	10.9 °C, 30 Mar 2017
5	10.8 °C, 2 Mar 1999, 26 Mar 2006 and 19 Mar 2017

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
9.6	+2.5	2017
9.5 (9.9)	+2.4	1957
9.5 (9.9)	+2.4	1938
9.2	+2.1	1997
9.0	+1.9	2012

At noon on 1 March 2018 the temperature stood at just -3.5 °C, and with a strong north-easterly wind the windchill value made it feel more like -10 to -12 °C – approaching frostbite thresholds. Snow fell and drifted throughout the day, although fortunately Reading didn’t see as much snow as in other parts of the country, and the temperature rose very slowly throughout the day and into the night as less cold air associated with storm ‘Emma’ began to push in from the south. The temperature finally reached -0.9 °C at 2 a.m. according to our automatic weather station within the campus’s Atmospheric Observatory. In over a century of weather records, this was only the third March day to remain below freezing throughout, and easily surpassed the previous coldest March day – 6 March 1942, when the day’s highest temperature was only -0.6 °C. This is a new entry in Table 6.1.

The maximum temperatures recorded at the University of Reading’s weather station over the weekend 17-18 March 2018 were just 0.8 °C on Saturday 17th and 0.9 °C on Sunday 18th. Both were unusually cold days for so late in March – in fact in records at the university dating back to 1908 no date after mid-March had ever previously failed to reach 1.0 °C.

We had a spell of late March days that were almost as cold in 2013. That year Reading had daytime highs of 1.0 °C on the 23rd and 24th, with a high of 1.1 °C on the 25th. However, any lying snow was patchy in 2013, unlike the depths of 6 cm reported on Sunday 18 March.

Going back further, the temperature on 29 March 1952 rose to only 1.2 °C. That cold event gave some heavy snow with 10 cm lying on the 30th, causing widespread travel disruption around Reading on the 29th and 30th. This event was also a result of a cold easterly airflow on that affected the southern half of England which led to snow drifts of over 1 metre in depth in parts of the Chilterns.

APRIL

April 2018, after a cold wet start, included a very warm spell after mid-month, with a new highest April temperature on record being recorded on the 19th. New entries in Table 7.1 are shown below:

Table 7.1 Highest maximum and minimum temperatures in April, 1908-2018. Records are from the (slightly milder) London Road site 1908-67, and from Whiteknights 1968-2018: no corrections for site differences have been applied.

Rank	Hottest days
1	26.7 °C, 19 April 2018
2	26.2 °C, 16 April 1949
3	26.1 °C, 23 April 2011
4	25.8 °C, 16 April 1945
5	25.7°C, 16 April 2003

 

Rank	Mildest nights
1	12.7 °C, 15 April 1945
2	12.6 °C, 30 April 2005
3	12.6 °C, 25 April 2007
4	12.5 °C, 26 April 1975 and 18 April 2018
5	12.0 °C, 11 April 1981

 

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May

May 2018 was an unusually sunny month. By the end of the 27th the accumulated sunshine amounted to 259 hours – but then the final four days were duller with just 6.3 hours being recorded. However the overall total for 265.3 hours still ranked the month as the second sunniest in the station record – with ten days each recording in excess of 13 hours of sunshine.

The sunniest Mays in the station record are as follows:

Duration hours	Per cent of possible	Year
295.1	61.0	1989
265.3	54.8	2018
261.8	54.1	1990
259.5	53.6	1992
252.6	52.2	1956

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June

The highest temperature of June 2015 (30.6 °C, credited to the 30th) actually occured at 0900 GMT the next day – i.e. on 1 July. During the three summer months in the period 1908-2015 the highest temperature occurs at 0900 GMT the next day on about 5 days in every 4 years. However, prior to 2015 the highest temperature at which this had occurred was 25.0 °C (the 0900 GMT temperature on 1 August 2013). In 86 per cent of occurrences such ‘following-day maximum temperatures’ had been below 20 °C. On no previous occasion did this oddity result in the highest temperature assigned to one summer month actually being a value recorded in the following calendar month.

June 2016 was an unusually dull month; in fact, it was duller than each of the three months March-May 2016 and was the third dullest June on record. The dullest months shown in Table 9.4 now read as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
109.4	22.1	1990
110.3	22.2	1991
116.4	23.5	2016
127.4	25.7	2012
135.6	26.7	1997

 

June 2017 enjoyed a five-day hot-spell during the 17th-21st, which included four successive days each reaching 30.0 °C or above; on the 21st 32.5 °C was reached, the highest temperature in June since 1976. The highest daily June maximum temperatures (Table 9.1) now read:

Rank	Hottest days
1	34.0 °C, 26 June 1976
2	33.9 °C, 17 June 1917
3	33.8 °C, 27 June 1976
4	33.5 °C, 28 June 1976
5	32.5 °C, 21 June 2017

Indeed, this warm spell in 2017 helped to produce the second warmest June on record, while the following June (2018) was almost as warm – see the modified Table 9.2:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
18.1	+2.8	1976
17.3	+2.0	2017
17.1	+1.8	2006
17.1	+1.8	2018
17.0 (17.7)	+1.7	1940
16.9 (17.6)	+1.6	1950
16.9	+1.6	1970

June 2016 was the fifth time in the record that March had been sunnier than the following June, this having also occurred in 1990, 1997, 2007 and 2012 prior to 2016. June 2018 was (especially during the final week) warm, dry and sunny (with 252.7 h of bright sunshine) – see the modified Tables 9.2 (above) and 9.3 (below).

Driest month, total fall, mm	Per cent of normal	Year
0.5	1	1925
3.2	7	1962
6.5	14	2018
7.9	18	1975
8.3	19	1921

 

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July

July 2015  began with hot weather. After an overnight minimum temperature of 18.5 °C, the temperature climbed rapidly to 30.6 °C by 0900 GMT on the 1st; this was 2.2 degC higher at that time of day than had ever been recorded previously at the university in any month. By the end of the day (the 1st) the temperature had reached 33.5 °C.

But July 2015 ended on a cool note; on the 31st the minimum air temperature was 5.0 °C and there was a slight ground frost.

On 25 July 2019 the highest July temperature in the record was observed, with 36.0 °C being the equal second highest reading in any month. Consequently the month now appears in both the list of highest and lowest July temperatures (Table 10.1):

Rank	Hottest days	Coldest nights
1	36.0 °C, 25 July 2019	4.9 °C, 25 July 1978
2	35.3 °C, 19 July 2006	5.0 °C, 31 July 2015
3	34.7 °C, 12 July 1923	5.1 °C, 4 July 1965
4	34.6 °C, 29 July 1948	5.2 °C, 11 July 1993
5	34.3 °C, 13 July 1923	5.3 °C, 1 July 1924

A minimum temperature of 19.6 °C during the night of 19-20 July 2016 occurred during a spell of hot weather that saw the temperature reach 31.9 °C on the 19th. This night ranked as the second warmest July night on record and the fifth warmest night in the entire record at that time.

Rank	Warmest nights
1	19.9 °C, 29 July 1948
2	19.6 °C, 20 July 2016
3	19.2 °C, 23 July 1921
4	19.1 °C, 13 July 1941
5	19.0 °C, 4 July 1976

Violent thunderstorms during the evening of 18 July 2017 (when 36 mm of rain fell in one hour, according to the Met Office MMS raingauge) and lesser thunderstorms before dawn the following morning, led to a total fall of 45.1 mm of rain – although in total rain fell for just 3.3 h. This is close to the expected rainfall of 45.9 mm for the whole of July. The deluge led to some roads being flooded for a time, and water ingress into buildings. In Tilehurst a lightning strike led to a loft fire. The wettest July days now rank as follows:

Rank	Wettest days
1	50.3 mm, 25 July 1941
2	46.7 mm, 22 July 1967 T
3	45.1 mm,18 July 2017 T
4	42.5 mm, 2 July 1999
5	42.5 mm, 20 July 2007 T

T denotes a day when thunder was heard.

Despite having only 10 wet days (days when rainfall of at least 1 mm fell), July 2017 proved to be one of the wettest July months on record – due to four days over which the rainfall amounted to 106.6 mm in total. Table 10.3 now stands as follows, with 2017 being the wettest July outside the period 1915-1920:

Total fall mm	Per cent of normal	Year
154.7	337	1920
143.5	313	1918
143.0	312	1917
130.3	284	1915
122.5	267	2017

July 2018 was a remarkably warm and sunny month. It was also one of the driest July months on record with the only precipitation falling by 0900 GMT on the 27th being a fall of 0.5 mm on the 20th and a trace of rain on the 26th. But some wet days in the final week gave a monthly total of 14.0 mm.

July 2018 was the sunniest July on record – the only sunless day was on the 29th – and the total for the month of 299.7 h made it the second sunniest month of any name after June 1975 when 305.6 h of sunshine were recorded. The sunniest July months (Table 10.4) are now as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
299.7	60.1	2018
298.2	59.8	1959
297.6	59.7	2013
291.8	58.5	2006
282.5	56.6	1976

During July 2018 daytime temperatures reached  30 °C on five days although nighttime minimum temperatures never exceeded 17.2 °C. As a result, although the month was very warm overall by day, the month was 0.4 degC cooler than July 2006. The warmest Julys, Table 10.2, are now as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
21.1	+3.5	2006
20.7	+3.1	2018
20.6	+3.0	1983
19.6	+2.0	1989
19.5	+1.9	1976, 1995, 2013

 

 

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September

September 2016 was an unusually mild month. Overall it was the fourth warmest September in the station record, due to some very warm days. The occurrence of three of the five warmest September months in the period 2005-2016 is worthy of note.

The air temperature reached a remarkably high 29.2 °C on the 13th. This was the highest temperature reached in the town later in the year than 12 September; previously the record was a reading of 29.1 °C on 19 September 1926. However, on the 11th in 1919 the town reached 30.3 °C.

Table 12.2, the mildest September months, now stands as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
18.0	+3.4	2006
17.3 (17.8)	+2.7	1949
17.1 (17.6)	+2.5	1929
16.5	+1.9	2016
16.3	+1.7	2005

17.2 °C on 7 September 2016 was the warmest night in a week-long spell of warm nights; on the 10th the minimum temperature was 17.0 °C. Table 12.1 now includes the following entries:

Rank	Warmest nights
1	20.3 °C, 5 Sept 1949
2	18.0 °C, 5 Sept 2006
3	17.6 °C, 12 Sept 1945 and 5 Sept 2005
4	17.5 °C, 3 Sept 1939
5	17.2 °C, 3 Sept 1932, 6 Sept 1951 and 7 Sept 2016

September 2018 was the third sunniest September on record with 191.3 h of bright sunshine, and helped to make the extended summer period May-September the third sunniest such period on record. The sunniest Septembers are now as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
224.6	59.1	1959
203.9	53.7	1964
191.3	50.3	2018
179.3	47.2	1971
178.3	46.9	2004

The sunniest extended-summers were those of 1989 (1152.0 h), 1976 (1176.5 h), 2018 (1211.5 h) and 1959 (1270.4 h).

The air temperature fell to a low 0.8 °C on 25 September 2018 during a spell of high pressure. MSL pressure at 0900 GMT that morning was the equal highest on record for September at 1039.5 mb, as a large anticyclone migrated eastwards from south Wales during the day.

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October

October 2018 had a spell of relatively mild nights during the 11th to 17th, with the the minimum temperature on the 13th dropping no lower than 16.1 °C, one of the mildest October nights on record. Table 13.1 now includes the following:

Rank	Warmest nights
1	16.6 °C, 12 Oct 2005
2	16.5 °C, 4 Oct 2013
3	16.4 °C, 4 Oct 1921
4	16.1 °C, 13 Oct 2018
5	15.6 °C, 9 Oct 1967, 3 Oct 1985 and 1 Oct 1997

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November

November 2015 was a remarkably mild and dull month in Reading, although on the 21st there was a slight fall of snow – which occurred before the first autumn/winter air frost for only the seventh time in 108 years. During the month there were 17 sunless days.

The mildest Novembers (Table 14.2) and dullest Novembers (Table 14.4) now stand as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
10.7	+3.2	1994
10.1	+2.6	2011
10.0	+2.5	2015
9.4 (9.8)	+1.9	1938
9.4	+1.9	2009

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
18.4	6.9	2015
32.6	12.2	1962
34.6	12.9	1994
38.2	14.3	2014
41.6	15.6	1987

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December

December 2015 saw a continuation of the unusual warmth of the preceding November with the temperature rising to 14.6 °C on the 16th; this was then followed by 15.5 °C on the 17th and 19th. Then, after a mild Boxing Day, the minimum temperature recorded on the 27th was the highest on record for the month, at 12.8 °C.

December 2018 was also one of the mildest Decembers on recorded, with the highest temperature of 14.7 °C on the 2nd being one of the highest on record for the month.

Rank	Mildest days	Mildest nights
1	15.8 °C, 2 Dec 1985	12.8 °C, 27 Dec 2015
2	15.5 °C, 17 Dec 2015 and 19 Dec 2015	12.4 °C, 3 Dec 1985
3	15.4 °C, 4 Dec 1931	12.0 °C, 5 Dec 1986 and 28 Dec 1994
4	15.2 °C, 18 Dec 2015	11.9 °C, 15 Dec 1998
5	15.1 °C, 26 Dec 1911	11.8 °C, 14 Dec 1918

No air frost was recorded during December 2015 – the first air frost-free December in the entire station record. Overall, the month was 5.8 degC warmer than the 1981-2010 average, the largest positive mean temperature anomaly (by 1.9 degC) for any month since the station opened.

The mildest Decembers (Table 15.2) now stand as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
10.8	+5.8	2015
8.1	+3.1	1974
8.1 (8.5)	+3.1	1934
7.6	+2.6	1988
7.4	+2.4	2018

December 2016 was the fifth driest December in the record due to generally very anticyclonic conditions that prevailed for much of the month. Table 15.3 now stands as follows:

Driest months

Total fall, mm	Per cent of normal	Year
9.9	16	1988
10.5	17	1926
12.3	20	1991
13.2	21	1933
13.3	21	2016

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Annual

2018, containing several warmer-then-average months and a hot July, proved to be the equal third warmest year on record, despite cold, snowy spells in February and March (see Table 16.1. It was also the second sunniest year on record, due largely to an unusually sunny extended summer (May-September).

The warmest years are now ranked as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
11.8	+1.2	2006
11.6	+1.0	2014
11.5	+0.9	2011
11.5	+0.9	2018
11.4	+0.8	1990 and 2003

The sunniest years are now as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
1917.8	42.8	1959
1818.4	40.6	2018
1810.1	40.4	2003
1792.0	39.9	1976
1732.6	38.7	1989

Spring

The spring of 2015 was unusually sunny, helped in part by the very sunny April. The sunniest springs (Table 17.8) are now as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
604.6	47.7	1990
595.7	47.0	1997
587.7	46.3	2007
586.0	46.2	2009
578.8	45.6	2015

The spring of 2017 was a mild season with very little air frost. The warmest springs (Table 17.6) are now as follows:

Mean temperature °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal, degC	Year
11.1	+1.5	2007
11.1	+1.5	2011
10.9	+1.3	2017
10.6	+1.0	1992, 1999
10.5 (11.0)	+0.9	1945

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SUMMER

2018 brought the warmest summer on record (equal to 2006) with a mean temperature of 18.6 °C. 2018 was the fourth driest summer on record with 62.0 mm of rainfall. There was only 0.5 mm of rainfall in the 39 days from 18 June and no
measurable rain in the 32 days from the same date. The sunshine total of 754.9 h during the summer of 2018 made this the fourth sunniest summer on record (since 1956).

The driest summers are now as follows:

Total fall, mm	Per cent of normal	Year
33.7	24	1995
48.0	34	1921
55.3	39	1913
62.0	43	2018
63.5	44	2006

The sunniest summers are now as follows:

Duration, hours	Per cent of possible	Year
842.9	58.3	1976
807.6	55.8	1959
778.4	53.8	1975
754.9	52.2	2018
733.1	50.7	1989

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Winter

The winter of 2015/16 was the mildest in the record by 0.4 degC, due largely to the warm conditions of December 2015. The warmest winters (Table 17.2) are now as follows:

Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 normal degC	Year
7.4	+2.5	2015/16
7.0	+2.1	1989/90 and 2006/07
6.8	+1.9	1974/75
6.6	+1.7	1988/89

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‘Top ten’ extremes

The mean temperature anomaly for December 2015 was far greater than anything recorded in any other month of the Reading record. The warmest months by departure from the 1981-2010 average (Table 22.5) are now:

	Warmest months
Rank	Mean temperature, °C	Departure from 1981-2010 monthly normal, degC	Month and year
1	10.8	+5.8	Dec 2015
2	13.0	+3.9	Apr 2011
3	21.1	+3.5	July 2006
4	18.0	+3.4	Sep 2006
5	8.1	+3.3	Feb 1990
6	10.7	+3.2	Nov 1994
7	12.3	+3.2	Apr 2007
8	8.5	+3.1	Dec 1934
9	8.1	+3.1	Dec 1974
10	20.6	+3.0	July 1983

A maximum temperature of 36.0 °C on 25 July 2019 was only the third time in any month that 36.0 °C had been reached.

	Hottest days
Rank	Maximum temperature, °C	Date
1	36.4	10 Aug 2003
2	36.0	9 Aug 1911
3	36.0	25 July 2019
4	35.5	3 Aug 1990
5	35.3	19 Jul 2006
6	34.7	12 July 1923
7	34.6	29 July 1948
8	34.3	12 July 1923
9	34.2	9 July 2003
10	34.0	26 June 1976

A minimum temperature of 19.6 °C during the night of 19-20 July 2016 ranked this as fifth warmest night in the entire record at that time.

	Warmest nights
Rank	Minimum temperature, °C	Date
1	20.8	1 Aug 1995
2	20.3	5 Sep 1949
3	19.9	29 July 1948
4	19.9	11 Aug 2003
5	19.6	20 Jul 2016
6	19.4	23 Aug 1997
7	19.4	9 Aug 2004
8	19.2	23 July 1921,
9		18 Aug 1947,
10		5 Aug 1975, 13 Aug 1997 and 24 Aug 2003

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On this date…

Dates shown as ‘year month day’ below.

January

• 2019 01 02 Mean sea level pressure at 0900 GMT today reached 1044.1 mb, an unusually high reading in Reading for any month.
• 2019 01 04 This morning was the third successive morning with a mean sea level pressure in excess of 1043 mb – 1043.7 mb. This was the first such sequence since December 2006 – and before that February 1964.
• 2019 01 14 A 22-day dry spell ended today, during which only 0.2 mm of rain fell in 22 days. In fact, the 20 days since Boxing Day 2018 recorded no measurable rainfall, the first absolute drought to include December days on record.
• 2020 01 19 Shortly before midnight the automatic weather station at the site recorded a MSL pressure of 1049.9 mb at 2347 GMT – probably the highest reading in the town for over 100 years.
• 2020 01 20 MSL pressure at 0900 GMT this morning was reported as 1048.5 mb – the third highest of any date in the Reading record.

February

• 2018 02 24 A sudden stratospheric warming led to a cold flow across Reading from the east. The surface air was very dry and a lack of cloud led to one of the sunniest February days on record – 9.3 h of bright sunshine occurred today.
• 2018 02 25 The effects of a sudden stratospheric warming continued today, as a cold, dry flow across Reading from the east led to a second consecutive very sunny day. A total of 9.6 h of bright sunshine occurred today, making this the sunniest February day on record.
• 2019 02 25 9.3 h of bright sunshine made this the equal sixth sunniest February day in the period since 1908. But it was to be exceeded on both the following days. 17.4 °C equalled the previous highest February air temperature recorded since 1908.
• 2019 02 26 An air temperature of 19.5 °C was reached today, the highest on record for February (since 1908) by more than 1 degC. 9.5 h of bright sunshine was recorded today, equalling the second highest daily February sunshine totals recorded on the 20th in 1970, 27th in 1973 and 26th in 1977. The total was 0.1 h less than the duration on 25 February 2018. The range of air temperature today (20.0 degC, from -0.5 °C to 19.5 °C) was the greatest on record for any winter day (December-February) on record.
• 2019 02 27 Today was the final day of five-day long sunny spell during which 43.8 h of bright sunshine was recorded. Such a sunny spell had not occurred outside the period 5 March – 3 October previously, in records back to 1968. Although cooler than yesterday, the maximum air temperature of 17.9 °C was the second highest on record for February since 1908, while the diurnal temperature range today was 17.5 degC.
• 1959 02 28 The warmest February day (until 2019) on record with the maximum temperature rising to 17.4 °C. High pressure over Europe helped to draw mild air from a long way south across Reading.
• 2018 02 28 After several days of very cold air from the east, the temperature rose to just -0.5 °C in Reading today, as about 1 cm of snow lay on the ground.

March

• 2018 03 01 With a maximum temperature of just -0.9 °C, today was the coldest March day on record, and only the third March day to remain below freezing. Snow and snow grains fell at times during the day in a brisk NE to E’ly wind. Earlier in the day the minimum temperature had been -5.4 °C.
• 2018 03 17 The maximum temperature could only rise to 0.8 °C as an easterly airflow brought cold air across the area. Snow fell at times from about 0900 GMT onwards. This was the coldest spring day, by maximum temperature, after mid-March during the period 1908-2018.
• 2018 03 18 The maximum temperature could only rise to 0.9 °C as an easterly airflow continued to bring cold air across the area. Overnight snowfall led to a depth of 4 cm on the ground at 0900 GMT.
• 2018 03 19 Snow lay to a depth of 6 cm on the ground this morning, after a cold weekend with spells of snowfall at times.
• 2016 03 28 Storm Katie affected Reading and southern Britain today, Easter Monday. Winds gusted to 44 knots at the University, at about the same time that scaffolding in the Woodley Precinct around Crockhamwell Road collapsed due to strong winds – it is believed to have happened early this morning at around 0630 GMT. 17.4 mm of rain fell in the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT as frontal systems associated with the storm passed over the town.

April

• 2018 04 18 The minimum temperature in the 24 hours ending at 0900 GMT this morning was a warm 12.5 °C, one of the highest such values on record for April during 1908-2018.
• 2018 04 19 The maximum temperature today was 26.7 °C as an area of unusually warm air (for the time of year) reached SE England. Indeed, this temperature was the highest on record for April during 1908-2018.
• 2018 04 29 Maximum temperature just 7.7 °C today, under cloudy skies and a NE’ly wind. In the past 110 years only 30 April 1939 (maximum 7.2 °C) and 1 May 1979 (maximum 7.2 °C) have been colder this late in the spring.

May

• 2018 05 07 The temperature rose to 26.8 °C today, the May Day Bank Holiday Monday, the highest temperature reached on any day over the three-day extended weekend since the May Day holiday was instigated in 1978. Indeed, all three days this year were warm and sunny – the sunshine total of 40.9 hours reflecting a near-absence of cloud over the weekend.
• 2019 05 13 Air pressure at 0900 GMT this morning was 1040.1 mb, the second highest on record for May behind 1042.4 mb on 16 May 1943.

June

• 2017 06 06 MSL pressure was a low 994.0 mb at 0900 GMT this morning. Pressure was rising at this time from a minimum value of 987.1 mb at 0342 GMT, records from the University’s automatic weather station showed; this latter reading was possibly the lowest locally in June for over 60 years. Only six other June mornings have had a lower pressure reading at 0900 GMT than today.
• 2018 06 18 Today was the first of 39 days during which just 0.5 mm of rain fell; there was a trace on 19 June, 0.5 mm on 21 July and a trace on 27 July. The weather was hot and sunny during this period and by mid-July the vegetation was suffering from the heat and drought conditions.
• 2015 06 30 The highest temperature of June 2015 (30.6 °C, credited to the 30th) actually occurred at 0900 GMT the next day – i.e. on 1 July. During the three summer months in the period 1908-2015 the highest temperature occurs at 0900 GMT the next day on about 5 days in every 4 years. However, prior to 2015, the highest temperature at which this had occurred was 25.0 °C (the 0900 GMT temperature on 1 August 2013). In 86 per cent of occurrences such ‘following-day maximum temperatures’ had been below 20 °C. On no previous occasion did this oddity result in the highest temperature assigned to one summer month actually being a value recorded in the following calendar month.

July

• 2015 07 01 July began with hot weather. After an overnight minimum temperature of 18.5 °C, the temperature climbed rapidly to 30.6 °C by 0900 GMT on the 1st; this was 2.2 degC higher at that time of day than had ever been recorded previously at the university in any month. By the end of the day (the 1st) the temperature had reached 33.5 °C.
• 2017 07 18 Violent thunderstorms during the evening (when 36 mm of rain fell in one hour, according to the Met Office MMS raingauge) and lesser thunderstorms before dawn the following morning, led to a total fall of 45.1 mm of rain – although in total rain fell for just 3.3 h. The deluge led to some roads being flooded for a time, and water ingress into buildings. In Tilehurst a lightning strike led to a loft fire.
• 2016 07 20 A minimum temperature of 19.6 °C during the night of 19-20 July 2016 occurred during a spell of hot weather that saw the temperature reach 31.9 °C on the 19th. This night ranked as the second warmest July night on record and the fifth warmest night of any month in the entire record at that time.
• 2019 07 25 The afternoon temperature reached 36.0 °C today, the highest temperature in the record for July. It was also the equal second highest daily maximum temperature (with 9 August 1911) after 36.4 °C on 10 August 2003.
• 2018 07 27 4.9 mm of rain fell today, making it the first wet day (a day with at least 1 mm of rain falling in the 24 hours beginning 0900 GMT) since 7 June 2018 when 1 mm of rain fell. In fact today was the wettest day since 29 May 2018.
• 2015 07 31 July 2015 ended on a cool note; on the 31st the minimum air temperature was 5.0 °C and there was a slight ground frost – one of the coolest July nights on record.

August

• 2017 08 28 Today brought the highest late August bank holiday temperature on record. The maximum temperature was 26.9 °C, the highest such value since the bank holiday Monday was moved to late August in 1965.

September

• 2016 09 13 The air temperature reached 29.2 °C on the 13th. This was the highest temperature reached in the town later in the year than 12 September; previously the record was a reading of 29.1 °C on 19 September 1926. However, on the 11th in 1919 the town reached 30.3 °C.
• 2016 09 15 Thunderstorms during the evening led to hailstones 2 cm in diameter being reported in parts of Reading.
• 2018 09 24 Pressure was very high for September today, reaching 1038.1 mb at 0900 GMT as a large anticyclone to the west of the British Isles moved slowly eastwards.
• 2018 09 25 MSL pressure at 0900 GMT was the equal highest on record for September at 1039.5 mb, as a large anticyclone migrated eastwards from south Wales during the day. Overnight it was cool for the time of year as the air temperature dropped to 0.8 °C.

October

• 2017 10 14 A southerly airflow across the UK on the 13th-14th led to a warm night with the minimum temperature not dropping below 15.3 °C. Such a warm night has only occurred twice before this late in the year in Reading – on 23 October 1998 and 18 October 2014 when the minimum temperature was also 15.3 °C.
• 2017 10 16 There was a reddish-looking Sun and dark clouds for several hours during the day, the dimming being the result of the mixing of Saharan dust and smoke from wildfires in Iberia in the air above southern Britain. This mixing was partly due to the flow of air around ex-hurricane Ophelia.

November

• 2015 11 21 The first snow of the autumn/winter fell today, one of seven years during 1908-2015 when wintry weather occurred before the first air frost of autumn. The first air frost this year arrived on 22 November.

December

• 2015 12 09 There were no air frosts recorded during the December 2015 – a feat never achieved in Reading in any other December during 1908-2015. The lowest air temperature of the month was just 3.5 °C and occurred today.
• 2015 12 16 December 2015 saw a continuation of the unusual warmth of the preceding November with the temperature rising to 14.6 °C on the 16th.
• 2015 12 17 This was the second of four very mild December days; the maximum temperature reached 15.5 °C, the second highest maximum temperature on record in December during 1908-2015 (the temperature was equalled two days later).
• 2015 12 18 This was the third of four very mild December days; the maximum temperature reached 15.2 °C, the fifth warmest December day on record during 1908-2015.
• 2015 12 19 This was the fourth of four very mild December days; the maximum temperature reached 15.5 °C, the second highest maximum temperature on record in December during 1908-2015 (the temperature was equalled two days earlier).
• 2018 12 24 Under a spell of generally high pressure, just 0.2 mm of rain fell in the 22 days from today. Such a dry spell occurring in December is unprecedented in the records back to 1908.
• 2018 12 25 High pressure persisted from today until 6 January 2019 with the 0900 GMT mean sea level pressure in excess of 1030 mb each morning.