High Heaton Weather in 2025 

This week we are looking at some of the extremes and averages of the past year along with a look at how it compares to the previous 30 years. 

The spring was exceptionally dry and included an 8-week period when only 5mm of rain was recorded. The dry weather continued into the summer and by the end of August it was the driest year to date. However, the last four months of the year were quite wet, and the total rainfall for the year was 594mm (23”), which is 89% of the average. 

The dry conditions in the spring and summer were accompanied by high temperatures and plenty of sunshine causing the ground to become very parched. It was the warmest spring that I have recorded (and nationally it was the warmest and sunniest spring since records began in 1884). There were several mini-heatwaves during the summer, with the temperature often in the high 20s. June was particularly hot and it was the warmest June that I have recorded by a large margin. Nine months of the year were warmer than average, and only January was much colder than usual. As has been widely reported, nationally (and for England and Scotland) it was the hottest year on record in terms of the average temperature. However, in High Heaton (as in Wales and Northern Ireland), it was just beaten by 2022. The average temperature for the year was 10.33°C compared to 10.38°C in 2022. During the first 25 years that I calculated average temperatures there was no upward trend, but four of the five warmest years in the last thirty were 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, so this does seem to be local evidence of global warming. If further evidence is needed, 2025 was also the fourth successive year with no substantial snowfall. 

Several named storms arrived during the year, and one of these, Éowyn, which was reported to be the worst storm to hit the country for a decade, brought us the year’s maximum wind speed of 56mph on January 24^th. This equals the previous highest gust which was in 2016.

Finally, here are some of the other extremes of 2025: 

Maximum temperature: 30.6°C at 2pm on Friday 20^th June. This is only the third occasion that 30°C has been exceeded. 

Minimum temperature: -3.9°C at 5.30am on Sunday 12^th January. 

Coldest day: Sunday 19^th January with a maximum of 1.1°C (and only 0.3°C during daylight). 

Wettest day: Saturday 20^th September with 41 mm of rain.

John Telfer