WeatherQuest

27/05/2026

For our second instalment in our 25th Anniversary Weather Phenomena celebrations, we will be looking into nacreous clouds!

Nacreous clouds, otherwise known as mother-of-pearl clouds, are a very rare iridescent type of cloud known as Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs). They form in the stratosphere, 15 to 25 km above the polar regions when stratospheric temperatures drop below -78 °C, therefore mainly during winter. Being made of very fine ice particles, they scatter sunlight to produce clouds with a luminescent and iridescent appearance, long after the sun has set!

To find out more about them, have a read of our full article using the link below:

https://weatherquest.co.uk/weather-phenomena-nacreous-clouds/

Nacreous clouds, otherwise known as mother-of-pearl clouds, are a very rare, iridescent type of Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC).

20/05/2026

As part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations, we thought we should celebrate the weird and wonderful world that is the weather by going through some of our favourite weather phenomena. In a sub-series of articles, we will be going into the details of how they are produced and provide some examples, so keep your eyes peeled over the coming weeks!

As a nice start to the series, we will be looking at quite a few peoples’ favourite, snow! 🌨️

Snow is one of most transformative weather conditions we have in the UK, making the environment look completely different when it settles. Depending on where it falls, and how much, it can cause disruption for many. ⚠️

But what actually is snow? How does it form? How often does it fall in the UK and how much do we normally receive? To find out, head over to our article using the link below:

https://weatherquest.co.uk/weather-phenomena-snow/

Snow is one of most transformative weather conditions we have in the UK, making the environment look completely different when it settles.

14/05/2026

The first article in our 25th Anniversary celebration series is out now!🌦️

Weather Forecasting: 25 Years Later

A lot has changed in the forecasting world since WeatherQuest’s inception, with massive advancements in technology, understanding of processes and number/availability of observations.

Development of Numerical Weather Prediction models has increased both accuracy and spatial resolution of forecasts. Combining this with ensembles has allowed these forecasts to reach out even further into the future, making them more useful for planning operations ahead of time. This has also been bolstered by the increase in number and type of observations worldwide, simultaneously aiding the accuracy of climatological studies and verification. And now with the development of AI models in the forecasting sphere, the world of meteorology is always changing!

To find out more, and learn about how WeatherQuest uses these advancements, read our article using the link below:

https://weatherquest.co.uk/weather-forecasting-25-years-later/

A lot has changed in the forecasting world since WeatherQuest’s inception, including advancements in technology, processes and observations.

13/05/2026

Some big news from us!

This year, WeatherQuest are celebrating our 25th Anniversary! 🎉🎈🎂

To celebrate this wonderful milestone, we will be publishing a series of articles/posts on our website and social medias, looking into how meteorology has changed over the last 25 years, our favourite weather phenomena, and some big weather events WeatherQuest has experienced and forecast for clients. These will go up alongside our usual monthly stats and current weather-related posts.

Starting tomorrow, there will be a new post each week, with the first being a look back over the last 25 years and how meteorology has changed. So, keep your eyes peeled for that!

Finally, we want to send a big thank you to everyone that has been part of WeatherQuest’s journey throughout the years. To our clients, customers and partners, our followers online, work experience and university students, and our past and present colleagues, WeatherQuest would not be where it is today without you.

Here’s to 25 years, and hopefully many more to come! 🥂🍾

08/05/2026

The Met Office monthly stats for April are in!

It was a warm April for most, with the majority of the UK being 0.5 – 1.5 °C warmer than average. Only a few small areas in Scotland and Northern Ireland had average temperatures. Conversely, a few regions in the South, Southwest and southwest Wales had temperatures between 1.5 and 2.5 °C above average. 🌡️

It was a very dry April for England and Wales, with the percentage anomaly reducing eastwards. Wales had values of around 75% of the average, with some pockets receiving their average for the month. Across East Anglia, the Southeast and Lincolnshire, rainfall totals were below 20% of the April average. The only region in England with average or above rainfall was Cumbria. Scotland and Northern Ireland both had average or above rainfall totals, with large regions of Scotland receiving above 125%, up to ~175%. ☂️

It was also a very sunny April, with the majority of the UK receiving above 130% of the average sunshine duration. Parts of the Midlands, Yorkshire, East Anglia and the Scottish Highlands had between 150 – 170% of the average. Northern Ireland, the Southwest, southwest Wales and the Southeast coast had values below 130%, with small pockets even closer to average. Only Orkney and Shetland had widespread values near average. 🌤️

The weather we experienced in April was primarily linked to the dominance of high pressure over the UK. This acted as a block and stopped the standard “wet westerly winds” from reaching some, if not all, of the UK. Where this high pressure was located impacted cloud cover and rainfall, with it being located over the East of England longer than other regions in the UK. This means that rainfall from the southwest couldn’t reach that far into England and instead was forced northwards into Northern Ireland and Scotland. This can be seen directly in the rainfall map. This blocking pattern, associated with settled and bright weather during late Spring, also meant that lots of sun was seen across the UK. These clear skies allowed temperatures to be high during daytime but also allowed a quite a few radiation frosts overnight, keeping mean temperatures lower than they could have been. ❄️

For a brief look ahead, over the next week and into mid-May models show a return to some more changeable weather, potentially leading to some much-needed rainfall (although not significant amounts) across already very dry and parched areas. 🌦️

08/04/2026

With our bellies still full of chocolate eggs, let’s have a look back at the Met Office’s March monthly stats!

Similar to last year, it was warmer than average for all, with everywhere having been at least 0.5 – 1.5 °C above average. Temperatures were even warmer at 1.5 – 2.5 °C above average across a diagonal stripe covering Northern England, the Midlands and parts of Wales and the Southwest. Only a few very small pockets in Scotland and Ireland had average temperatures. 🌡️

For rainfall, it was relatively dry across the South and in the East Riding of Yorkshire at ~75% of the average, with some localized areas receiving less than 50%. Eastern Scotland was very dry, with rainfall totals in certain parts only being between 20 - 33% of the average. For Wales, the Northeast, Northern Ireland and parts of southern Scotland rainfall was around average. In Cumbria and northwest Scotland, it was wetter than average, with widespread values up to 175% of the average, and certain locations receiving above that. ☔

It was also a sunny month, with average or greater sunshine duration seen by most. Across the majority of the UK this value was between 110 – 130% of the average. Parts of the South, East Anglia and eastern Scotland received a bit more sunshine, at >130%. Only the Isle of Man, the Isle of Skye and the Outer Hebrides saw sunshine below average - between 50 – 90%. 🌤️

We hope everyone had a happy Easter and stayed safe during storm Dave! 🐰

06/03/2026

Now that meteorological Spring has arrived, let’s take a look back at the last month of Winter with the February Met Office monthly stats!🌱

There was a strong latitudinal relationship with temperature, with the anomaly decreasing northwards. Across much of the South, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, the anomaly was between 2.5°C and 3.5°C. This decreased down to 1.5°C-2.5°C in the far Southwest, Wales, the Midlands and the East. Much of the rest of the UK had temperature anomalies between 0.5°C and 1.5°C. Only parts of Aberdeenshire, the northern Highlands, Skye, the Outer Hebrides and Orkney had around average temperatures, with some parts of Shetland being slightly cooler than average. 🌡️

It was a very wet month, with most of the UK receiving more than average rainfall. Along the south coast, across the Midlands and in parts of Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland received more than 200%, with surrounding areas dropping down to >125%. For north Wales, Lancashire and Cumbria, the anomaly dropped to around the average, whilst parts of eastern and northern Scotland had below average rainfall, dropping as low as

05/02/2026

January’s Met Office monthly stats have arrived!

It was a relatively cool month, with eastern and northern parts of the UK having between -0.5°C and -1.5°C below the long-term average. A small part of the Wester Ross area of the Scottish Highlands had even lower temperatures at between -1.5°C and -2.5°C below average. Other parts of western Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the West Midlands and the South all were close to average. 🌡️

January was a wet month for most, with varying levels of above average rainfall across most of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There were four main notable areas of very high rainfall totals (>200%): the Southwest and South Coast, Northern Ireland, the Midlands, and Angus and Aberdeenshire. Many of these totals will have been driven by the Atlantic storm systems that impacted us throughout January, with notable ones including Storm Goretti, Storm Ingird and Storm Chandra. This led to many Met Office weather warnings, as any rain from an incoming storm would fall on already saturated ground, increasing the risk of surface flooding. In fact, Cornwall saw its wettest January on record, and Northern Ireland saw its second wettest. Northwest England, and western and northern Scotland were a bit drier than average however, with northern Scotland receiving below 50% average in certain parts. 🌧️

The story wouldn’t be complete without mentioning snowfall. Angus and Aberdeenshire were hit hard with persistent and heavy snowfall events during January, starting off the first week with a snow depth of 52 cm recorded in Oyne. Storm Goretti brought snowfall over parts of the Midlands shortly after, with up to 20 cm falling in some places. Both areas continued to be affected throughout January, with the snowmelt potentially contributing to the rainfall totals. ❄️

Sunshine varied across the country, but largely saw a southwest-northeast split. For the duller areas in January, North Norfolk and the Northeast had between 70-90% of the average, whilst northern Scotland had widespread values of

15/01/2026

On the 8th of January 2026, Storm Goretti rapidly developed in the Atlantic before tracking into the UK, bringing damaging winds, heavy rain and significant snowfall, with peak gusts reaching 99 mph in the Isles of Scilly. Being a multi-hazard event, the Met Office released a Yellow warning of rain across much of the country, an Amber warning of snow for parts of Wales and the Midlands and a rare Red warning for wind over southwest Cornwall. 🍃 🌨️

A textbook Shapiro–Keyser cyclone, Goretti’s structure helped drive the severe conditions which led to power outages, overturned vehicles, uprooted trees, damaged infrastructure, snow drifts and flooding. 🌀 ⚡

For a more in depth rundown of the event, including charts and radar analysis, head over to the news story on our website using the following link:

On the 8th of January 2026, Storm Goretti travelled over the UK, bringing with it strong winds, snow and rain. Here's a rundown of the event.

08/01/2026

Let’s look back at the Met Office monthly stats for December, and what an extreme year 2025 was.

December:
It was a warm December for all, with most of the country having been 1.5-2.5°C above average. Only in the western parts of the UK was the anomaly slightly lower at 0.5-1.5°C.🌡️

Rainfall was a bit more spatially variable but was broadly close to average. Parts of East Anglia, Kent, Northumberland, Northern Ireland and northern Scotland received 50-75% of average rainfall, with the north-west Highlands of Scotland receiving the lowest at down to 20-33% of the average. Conversely, parts of the Southwest, the Midlands, Wales, Lincolnshire and Cumbria all received more than the average rainfall for December, with Dorset having the highest anomaly of up to >200%. 🌧️

Similarly, sunshine was also quite spatially variable with southern England, Wales, East Anglia, Northern Ireland and parts of western and northern Scotland receiving higher than average sunshine hours (110-130%). The Southeast received the most, with the Newton Abbot area receiving >170% of the average. The East Midlands, the North, eastern Scotland and the Outer Hebrides all received lower than average sunshine hours, with the Outer Hebrides receiving the lowest at 120% of the annual average. Spring and early summer are the main drivers behind this due to the longer days, and you can see the large anomalies we received during this period. 🌻

Spring was also the UK’s sixth and England’s second driest overall, adding to the climatic extremes experienced during 2025. Despite this and the dry summer, the UK ended up close to average due to the wet autumn. 🌂

05/01/2026

Happy new year! 🎆

We hope everyone had a lovely holiday period and enjoyed all the festivities!

It’s certainly been a very cold start to the year, with negative temperatures across Europe. The wintry conditions combined with the atmospheric pressure pattern over the UK has led to the much of the country being dusted with snow. With more snow showers being forecast and below freezing temperatures remaining, we hope everyone stays safe! ❄️

If you’d like to get involved with measuring snow depth, we have a website that maps our community snow depth reports across the country. This allows everyone to better visualise how the snow has fallen and settled. Measuring snow depth at home is best done on a hard, flat surface such as a garden table or patio. Place a ruler into the snow, perpendicular to the ground at 90 degrees, then take the measurement. ☃️ 📏

To submit the report, head over to the link below:
https://weatherquest.co.uk/snowdepth/map

Put on your boots, woollies and coat, grab a ruler and get measuring! 🌨️