Weather and Climate summaries

Overview of weather across the UK for previous months, seasons and years

Those interested in climate change and predictions of future climates should also visit the Climate Change pages.

UK last month

October 2026

October was a mild but unsettled month for the UK. Frontal systems brought rain, occasionally heavy, across much of the country throughout the first two weeks. Brief settled spells brought breaks from the rain, but none persisted for more than a few days, resulting in frequent changes from settled to unsettled conditions and back again. The first snow of the season fell across the tops of the Scottish mountains on the 7th, and northern Scotland experienced strong winds and local severe gales around the 12th and 13th as a low pressure system moved past. In the second half of the month, the first two named storms of the 2026/27 storm season arrived. Storm Austen was named on the 20th and underwent explosive cyclogenesis, rapidly deepening as it approached the south of the UK. The storm arrived on the 22nd and brought heavy rain and strong winds, with the Isles of Scilly recording a maximum gust of 76mph. Storm Boelo was named on the 22nd and brought heavy rain on the 24th, resulting in the provisional joint sixth wettest day on record for the UK. Both storms produced wind gusts of 60-70mph across parts of the UK, with Scotland seeing gusts exceeding 80mph along the western coast during Storm Boelo. The last few days of the month saw fog and mist in various parts of the country, especially on the 30th and 31st.

Mid-month saw a spell of below average temperatures for much of the UK, but the surrounding weeks saw above average temperatures and the month closed with the mean temperature provisionally 0.9°C above the 1991-2020 average. England was slightly warmer, while Scotland and Northern Ireland were closer to the average, with provisional anomalies of 0.6°C and 0.5°C, respectively. Rainfall was above average for the UK, which provisionally recorded 113% of the long-term average October rainfall. All four nations recorded above average rainfall, but some southern areas remain in drought after the prolonged period of below-average rainfall. Sunshine hours were also above average for all nations, with the UK provisionally recording 121% of the long-term average sunshine hours in October.

The UK provisional monthly extremes were as follows: A maximum temperature of 24.3°C was recorded at Cavendish (Suffolk) on the 5^th. A minimum temperature of -5.1°C was recorded at Tomintoul (Banffshire) on the 18^th. In the 24 hours ending at 0900 UTC on the 27^th, 131.6mm of rain fell at Skye Alldearg House (Inverness-shire). A wind gust of 74 knots (85 mph) was recorded at Wight Needles (Isle of Wight) on the 24^th.

Regional values for October 2026