Theme: Climate of the United Kingdom

Absolute temperature ranges

Country	Maximum temperatures			Minimum temperatures
	°C	°F	Location and date	°C	°F	Location and date
England	38.7	101.7	Cambridge Botanic Garden, Cambridgeshire on 25 July 2019	−26.1	−15.0	Edgmond, near Newport, Shropshire on 10 January 1982
Wales	35.2	95.4	Hawarden Bridge, Flintshire on 2 August 1990	−23.3	−9.9	Rhayader, Radnorshire on 21 January 1940
Scotland	32.9	91.2	Greycook, Scottish Borders on 9 August 2003	−27.2	−17.0	Braemar, Aberdeenshire on 11 February 1895 and 10 January 1982 Altnaharra, Sutherland on 30 December 1995
Northern Ireland	30.8	87.4	Knockarevan, near Belleek, County Fermanagh on 30 June 1976 Belfast on 12 July 1983	−18.6	−1.5	Castlederg, County Tyrone on 23 December 2010

Severe weather
While the United Kingdom is not particularly noted for extreme weather, it does sometimes occur, and events such as floods and drought may be experienced. The summer of 1976, for example, experienced temperatures as high as 35 °C (95 °F), and it was so dry the country suffered drought and water shortages.^[63]
Extended periods of extreme weather, such as the droughts of 1975–1976, summer 2006, and spring 2012, the long hot summers of 1911, 1976, 2003 and 2006, and the winters of 1946–1947, 1962–1963, 2009–2010, and 2010–2011 are often caused by blocking anti-cyclones which can persist for several days, weeks, or even months. In winter they can bring long periods of cold dry weather and in summer long periods of hot dry weather.

Hurricane Gordon's path
There have also been occurrences of severe flash floods caused by intense rainfall; the most severe was the Lynmouth disaster of 1952 in which 34 people died and 38 houses and buildings were completely destroyed. In the summer of 2004, a severe flash flood devastated the town of Boscastle in Cornwall. However, the worst floods in the United Kingdom in modern times occurred in the North Sea flood of 1953. A powerful storm from the Atlantic moved around Scotland and down the east coast of England. As it moved south it produced a storm surge which was magnified as the North Sea became narrower further south. By the time the storm affected south-east England and the Netherlands, the surge had reached the height of 3.6 metres (12 ft). Over 300 people were killed by the floods in eastern England.
Thunderstorms are most common in southern and eastern England, and least common in the north and west.^[64] In London, thunderstorms occur on average 14–19 days a year, while in most of Northern Ireland and the west of Scotland thunderstorms occur on around 3 days a year.^[64] Occasionally, thunderstorms can be severe and produce large hailstones as seen in Ottery St Mary, Devon in October 2008, where drifts reached 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in).^[65]
Strong winds occur mainly in the autumn and winter months associated with low pressure systems and Scotland experiences hurricane-force winds in most winters. The Gale of January 1976, Great Storm of 1987 (23 fatalities) and the Burns' Day storm of 1990 (97 fatalities) are particularly severe examples; Scotland saw winds of 142 mph during Cyclone Xaver in 2013.^[66]
The most rain recorded to fall on a single day was 279 mm at Martinstown (Dorset) on 18 July 1955,^[48] but also 243 mm fell at Bruton, Somerset on 28 June 1917.^[67] Heavy rain also fell between 20 and 25 June in 2007; some areas experienced a month's rainfall in one day. Four people died in the flooding and over £1.5 billion of damage to businesses and properties was caused.
Tropical cyclones themselves do not affect the UK due to the seas being too cold – they need temperatures above 26.5 °C (79.7 °F) to remain active. The waters near the UK, the Atlantic Ocean, only have temperatures of 2 to 18 °C (36 to 64 °F),^[68] so any tropical cyclone that does come anywhere near the UK has said to have undergone a process called extratropical transition. This now means it is an extratropical cyclone, which the UK frequently experiences. The Great Storm of 1987 was a very deep depression which formed in the Bay of Biscay, which also contained the remnants of Hurricane Floyd.^[69] Hurricane Lili of 1996 and Hurricane Gordon of 2006 both crossed the UK as strong extratropical cyclones with tropical storm-force winds, causing transport closures, power-cuts and flooding in Northern Ireland, Scotland and South West England. In 2011, the remnants of Hurricane Katia passed over northwestern Scotland with winds near 70 mph (110 km/h).