Winter 2026 in the UK was warmer, wetter and darker than normal but not the extent I expected given the unrelenting days without the sun in January. So for those people in Aberdeen who went 46 days without seeing the sun, it could have been worse!
UK Weather Trends #39 – Annual Temperatures in 2025
The year 2025 was both the hottest and 2nd hottest year on record in the UK. Last year, I used a CUSUM Chart to conclude “if the calendar year average is greater than 9.48 degrees Celsius and the meteorological year average is greater than 9.33 degrees Celsius … (this will) signal an upwards trend change“. By co-incidence, the average 24-hour temperature across the UK in 2025 was 10.09 degrees Celsius for both the calendar (Jan to Dec) and the meteorological (Dec to Nov) years which is clearly higher than these thresholds. It’s only taken me four years of writing to conclude a new upward trend in UK temperatures has begun.
[Read more…] about UK Weather Trends #39 – Annual Temperatures in 2025
Electoral Trends #1 – The Fragmentation of the West
Last month’s General Election in The Netherlands was won by a party with less than 17% of the national vote. Dutch voters, politicians and pundits are now discussing what this means for a governing coalition which is likely to take a number of months complete. For myself, the election was yet another data point showing the fragmentation of the electorate in the West is the key trend over the last 40 years. As yet, there is no sign of this trend coming to an end and what the future holds I cannot tell.
**Update 24/04/26 – An updated version of the main chart below can be found at the end of this article**
[Read more…] about Electoral Trends #1 – The Fragmentation of the West
UK Weather Trends #38 – Autumn 2025
The UK autumn in 2025 was warmer and wetter than usual but not exceptionally so and continues to be consistent with the step change in our autumnal climate seen 25 years ago.
UK Weather Trends #37 – Summer 2025
The 2025 meteorological summer in the UK was the warmest on record. This came less from heatwaves setting new temperate peaks and more from steady warmth throughout June, July & August. Overall it was sunnier and drier than usual in the UK but not to any significant degree. As a result, whilst the 1st principal component confirms the summer can be regarded as a “good summer”, it was a long way from being an exceptional summer like 1976 & 1995.
UK Weather Trends #36 – Spring 2025
Spring 2025 in the UK was both the hottest & sunniest on record as well as the 5th driest. For sunshine, 2025 was even more extraordinary than the exceptionally sunny spring in 2020 and was the result of 3 very sunny months in a row. For temperature, there was no doubt in my mind this time the data was correct unlike last year when I questioned whether spring 2024 was in fact the warmest in record. The Met Office has not corrected the record so apparently it was.
UK Weather Trends #35 – Winter 2025
Winter 2025 in the UK was unremarkable. Last year I explained I believe our winters are following a steady trend to warmer and wetter winters which began in the early 1980s. The data for the winter just gone doesn’t my conclusions.
Stats Training Materials – Forecasting & Risk Modelling
All organisations want to understand what happened in the past and what will happen in the future. The use of statistics and statistical thinking is essential to be a better forecaster but that doesn’t mean it is easy! At the same time, we are bombarded with forecasts in the media which can make it difficult to decide which forecasts to pay attention to and which can be ignored.
My course “Identifying Trends & Making Forecasts” is all about doing the basics right when it comes to analysing trends and making predictions. To support this course, here are links to material in the public domain covering the following themes:-
[Read more…] about Stats Training Materials – Forecasting & Risk Modelling
UK Weather Trends #34 – Annual Temperatures in 2024
The 2024 calendar year was the 4th hottest year on record in the UK. Last year, I used a Control Chart to conclude “a step change upwards (in UK temperatures) has taken place but the pace of change is not yet clear“. I am now less confident in my conclusion after updating with 2024 data, especially when I look at temperature trends based on the meteorological year of December to November instead.
[Read more…] about UK Weather Trends #34 – Annual Temperatures in 2024
Pay Gap Trends #8A – Is a Smaller Pay Gap Good News?
The gender pay gap in the UK continues to narrow in 2024. The good news is the pay gap is narrowing at a faster rate since 2017 when Gender Pay Gap Reporting (GPGR) for employers become mandatory. The bad news is women are not progressing up the pay scale and are working longer hours, men today are worse off than their fathers were 20 years ago and the smaller pay gap is simply the by-product of wage compression induced by above inflation rises in the minimum wage. This is a sobering picture which tells me on balance, a smaller pay gap is not good news.
This article is part A of a 2-part blog. Part B will be published at a later date.
[Read more…] about Pay Gap Trends #8A – Is a Smaller Pay Gap Good News?
