A record-breaking sunny February. Another mild winter and a disappointing summer, with the dullest August since 1912. It was the sunniest spring on record in Northern Ireland - this was then followed by the dullest July to September on record there. The gap between the last and first widespread snowfall was the smallest since 1919. In some places in the west there was more sunshine in December than in August.

January. Wet and mild. Overall about the fifth warmest of the last hundred years (after 1916, 1921, 1975, 1983 and 1997). England and Wales rainfall averaged 138 mm, 146% of the average. A wet New Year. Inveruglas in Scotland had 675 mm of rain. Quite sunny in the south and east, dull in the north and west. There as a cold snap at the start at the very start - easterlies set in briefly on the 3rd, with some heavy snow showers in east Scotland, but then mostly very mild. Then mostly wet, with flooding in the north and midlands in the third week. Parts of Yorkshire were particularly badly affected on the 21st. It reached 15.2C at Preston Wynne (Herefordshire) on the 20th. It turned very windy with gales at the end of the month, and colder in the north. The lowest temperature of the month was -11.3C on the 12th at Braemar.

February. Extremely sunny - the sunniest month since records began, averaging 130 hours over England and Wales, 64% above average, easily beating the previous record of 117 hours of 1891 and 1949. Some places in the south and east had more than twice the average amount of sunshine. Overall it was slightly warmer than average, with some very warm days and frosty nights. It was also a dry month, with an average of 41 mm. It was particularly dry in the southeast. There was a cold snowy start as Arctic air floods south. Vehicles stuck in snow on the A66 in Country Durham on the 1st. The cold weather doesn't last long though. It then becomes very mild and sunny as pressure builds - although East Scotland of course manages to avoid the sun, for a while. Midmonth high pressure rules, with some dense fog, morning frost, and some very high temperatures, particularly in Wales and the Northwest. Trawsgoed (Dyfed) records 18.2C on the 12th. With freezing fog, there were some cold days around the 19th; the maximum at Dishforth (Yorks.) was just -2.9C. The lowest temperature of the month was -10.7C at Copley (Durham) on the 21st. An earthquake (magnitude 5.3 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire) is felt over much of England in the early hours of the 27th (the strongest since the 5.4 earthquake in North Wales on 19 July 1984).

March. A cool, northerly month, particularly cold in the north. The highest maximum of the month is just 15.4C at Gravesend on the 11th, and the lowest minimum -11.4C at Braemar on the 26th. It was a wet month, 37% above average rainfall, making it the wettest in England and Wales since 2001. It was particularly wet in parts of East Anglia. Although slightly sunnier than average, it still wasn't as sunny as February. Many places in the north and east have a "White Easter", with frequent snowfalls from Friday 21st on. We do!

April. Slightly beneath average temperature overall. A warm start and end, but a long cold middle from the 5th to the 20th. 20C is reached for the first time this year on the late date of 26 April. Temperatures ranged from 22.0C at Weybourne (Norfolk) on the 26th to -6.8C at Braemar on the 14th. Slightly wetter(14% above) than normal. Up to 10 cm of snow fell across the SE on the morning of the 6th. It was a thundery month with much hail. It was a cloudy month inland and in the north, but sunny along the west and south coasts.

May. Warm everywhere; very dry in the north. Overall the CET was similar to that of the hottest in recent history, 1992. The first half of the month was very warm and sunny in the south, but then it became wetter and more unsettled, particularly in the south. However, it remained dry in the north, so for many parts of Scotland it was the driest on record. There was just 7 mm of rain at Lerwick and Fair Isle. Princetwon (Devon) in contrast saw 178 mm, most of it falling in the last week. Heavy rainfall in the SW on the 29th led to flooding in parts of Somerset, around Crewkerne and Bruton; 75 mm of rain fell in four hours. The highest temperature of the month was 27.%C at Malvern on the 11th, and the lowest minimum -6.2C at Kinbrace (Sutherland) on the 19th. The maximum at Carter Bar (in the Borders) on the 17th was just 8.2C. There were a record-breaking 303 hours of sunshine at Fair Isle.

June. The temperatures were about average overall - but because recent Junes have been warm, this made it the coolest June since 1999. The warmest spell was the 8-10th, when it reached 26.9C at Lee-on-Solent on the 8th and St James Park (London) on the 9th. The lowest temperature was -2.3C at Tulloch Bridge on the morning of the 24th. Rainfall was about average in England and Wales (92%), although it was slightly wetter in Scotland (128%). There were some wet spells at the end of the month: 94 mm of rain fell at Capel Curig in Snowdonia on the 17th-18th, and 85 mm fell at Keswick on the 21-22nd. 77 mm fell at Ringstone Edge in West Yorkshire on the 26th, most of it 9 hours. It was slightly sunnier than average in England (114%); generally it was sunnier the further south you went: Guernsey airport had 308 hours.

July. Very cool and wet first three weeks, but warm, sunny, and humid from the 23rd. Overall temperatures were about average. The England and Wales average rainfall total was 104 mm, 79% above average. The temperature reached 29.7 at Kew Gardens, London on the 27th and then 30.2C (the highest temperature of 2008) on the 28th. 59 mm of rain fell in a thunderstorm at Pershore in the afternoon of the 28th. Sunshine was about average overall, although it was dull in east Scotland (and I can vouch for that).

August. Just above average temperatures. It was warmer in the east and cooler in the west. The highest temperature of the month was just 27.5 at Faversham on the 6th; it dipped to 0.5C at Altnaharra on the 15th. It was a wet month, with flooding in Northern Ireland and eastern Scotland. The England and Wales average rainfall was 139.8 mm (154%). It was also very dull, with an average of about 105 hours in England and Wales (67%), making it the dullest since 1912. It was the dullest on record in parts of Northern Ireland. Heavy, thundery rain spread north across northern England and Scotland on the 1st, giving 25 mm over a wide area and nearly 50 mm at Boulmer (36 mm of which fell in two hours in the early morning). There was flooding in North Lanarkshire. Thunderstorms in East Anglia gave Marham (Norfolk) 15.2 mm of rain in one hour on the 7th. Just over 100 mm of rain fell at Fair Isle on the 10th (101.2 mm to be precise). There was serious flooding in Northern Ireland around the 16th, as the parts of Belfast saw over 67 mm of rain. There was a warm, humid spell at the end of the month, although it remained generally cloudy.

September. Overall close to long-term average temperatures, although this was the coolest since 2001. Although iot was the coolest September in Northern Ireland since 1994, it was still warmer than the long-term average, making it the fourteenth September in a row which was warmer than normal. Across the UK the month had a cool, wet beginning, and it then became dry and anticyclonic. England and Wales rainfall averages 102 mm, 36% above average, and most of it fell in the first week. Although it was very wet in the west, with 270 mm of rain in parts of Snowdonia, it was relatively dry in parts of the east. The highest temperature of the month was just 23.4C at Buxton in Norfolk on the 11th, with many places in the south failing to reach 21C all month. The highest temperature in Northern Ireland was just 21.2 deg. C. at Killowen, Co. Down, on the 21st September, just scraping over 70F. Sunshine was in short supply, with many central parts of the country having the dullest September since 1976.

October. Mainly because of the cold final week, slightly cooler than average - the coolest since 2003. It was a westerly, changeable month, and therefore wet in the west and dry in the east, very slightly above average overall. It was a sunny month, especially in the south and east, the sunniest for five years. A warm spell midmonth: the 12th sees 22.9C recorded in London and at Broadness, Kent. There was a very cold snap late month: at Dalwhinnie the maximum was only 0.9C on the 28th, with a minimum of -6.6C at Topcliffe (North Yorks.) early on the 29th. There was widespread snow on the 28th, with widespread lying snow in the south, and even some decent lying snow around London, as a shallow low travelled SE across the country bringing down some very cold air. There was more snow on the 29th. The snow was three centimetres deep on higher ground and lay for three days in places. It was perhaps the most widespread snow in October in the south since 1880. London and Northern Ireland had its first snow in October since the end of October 1934. On the 30th a localised heavy thunder storm brought a foot of hail stones to Ottery St Mary in Devon in just a couple of hours in the early morning. As the hail melted severe flooding followed. The rainfall total for the 29-30th at Dunkeswell (Devon) was 78 mm.

November. Temperatures were close to average - although the maxima were quite low. It was quite a dull month, with below-average rainfall apart from parts of the south east and Midlands. The presence of a large anticyclone over the Atlantic for much of the month led to this being the most northerly November since 1971. Hawarden (Flint) recorded 16.0C on the 14th, and Braemar a low of -12.1C on the 30th. It became generally colder from the 21st, with some snow, especially in the north and east. Warcop (Cumbria) recorded a maximum of just -3.0C on the 30th

December. A mixed month, with a cold beginning, a mild week before Christmas, and turning cold again on Boxing Day as winds swung to the east. It was the coldest December since 2001, and only 1996 recently has been substantially colder. The lowest temperature of the month was -12.9C at Aviemore on the morning of the 30th. The maxium at Kinloss on the 30th was just -4.0C. It was a dry month, with 64 mm E&W average being just 65% of the long-term mean, making it the driest December again since 2001. Parts of Essex saw less than half an inch of rain. Many parts of the east and south had no rain at all after the 13th. It was very sunny, with an average of 75 hours (158%), in many places the sunniest December since again 2001.