High Heaton Weather and Air Quality – October 2025 

Weather 

Amy, the first named storm of the season, arrived on Friday 3^rd October. That day was wet and windy with 11mm of rain falling and wind gusts of 37mph. The windy weather continued over the weekend, and it was followed by two weeks of high pressure, cloudy skies, and virtually no sunshine or rain – a phenomenon known as anti-cyclonic gloom. The last two weeks of the month were unsettled with frequent showers, little sunshine, and a persistent strong westerly wind. Despite the lack of sunshine, the month’s average temperature was 10.8°C which is 0.5°C above the average. This is the fifth successive milder-than-normal October. The month’s maximum temperature was 19.4°C at 2.30pm on Monday 6^th, and the minimum was 2.8°C at 7.15am on Sunday 26^th.  Total rainfall was 58mm which is 86% of the average for the month, and it was the driest October since 2018. The wettest day was Sunday 19^th when 14mm of rain fell. 

Air Quality 

The average PM2.5 particle concentration was 7.2µg/m3 which is the highest value since April but is still below than the WHO’s maximum recommended value of 10µg/m3 . That value was exceeded on 10 days however, the worst day being Sunday 18^th with a value of 28.3µg.  There were no days in the month when the Air Quality index was greater than 3, so all days were classified as being ‘good’.

John Telfer