January review: A tale of two halves

After a cold December, January returned to business as usual, in line with the rest of 2022, with temperatures above average.

The weather pattern flip-flopped between milder westerlies and cold, northerly incursions, fairly typical of a British winter. However, this then resulted in a broadly average month in terms of rainfall and temperature.

The average temperatures for the month don't exactly tell the whole story. It was a tale of two halves for the north and west versus the south and east temperature wise, with a stark contrast of extremes between the two areas.

In an unusual reversal of fortune, Scotland ended up basking in warmth, with Dyce in Aberdeenshire recording January's highest temperature with 15.8C, partly owing to the Foehn effect.

Meanwhile, Santon Downham in Suffolk got as low as -9.5C, with a temperature difference of nearly 20C between the north and the south on the morning of January 23rd.

Whilst January came in as warmer than average, winter so far has been slightly cooler than average due to December's cold weather. The average for winter is currently 0.5C cooler than normal.

It might also come as a surprise that January's sunshine prevailed, making it the UK's third sunniest January on record since 1919, whilst rainfall was roughly near average on the whole.