10 extreme weather facts from 2015

For many farmers, 2015 will be remembered for the winter floods that left a trail of devastation on farms across northern England.

Farmers and landowners were left with a huge clean-up bill after storms Desmond, Eva and Frank wreaked havoc, causing record rainfall, flooding and disruption.

More than 2,000 livestock drowned, agricultural buildings were damaged and swathes of farmland were left under water.

See also: Video – Cumbrian farmer counts cost of devastation

The legacy of the floods is still keenly felt in many regions and Defra is still paying out support payments to businesses affected by severe flooding in December.

The Met Office has published its State of the UK’s Climate 2015 report – the second in the annual series – which provides a summary of the UK weather and climate throughout 2015.

According to the forecaster, December 2015 was the wettest calendar month since records began in 1910.

However, the Met Office said 2015 was also a warm year in general. Globally, it was the warmest year on record and the average temperature increased by 1C. It was only the 16th warmest in the UK, but April was the sunniest on record.

Farmers Weekly has picked out 10 fascinating weather facts the 66-page report highlights.

1. December was the wettest calendar month on record for the UK, with rainfall from storms Desmond (4-5 December), Eva (23-24 December) and Frank (29-30 December) resulting in severe flooding across parts of northern Britain.

2. Hill farms across the Cumbrian fells were forced to evacuate livestock after being flooded with 200-300mm of rain in about 36 hours from the evening of 4 December to the morning of 6 December during Storm Desmond.

Flooded farmland in Cumbria © Andrew McCaren/LNP/REX/Shutterstock

3. A rain gauge at Honister Pass, Cumbria, recorded 341.4mm in 24 hours to 6pm on 5 December – a new UK record for any 24-hour period.

4. Many farmers will remember 2015 as a wet year, but some counties were drier than normal. For example, Lincolnshire had its 25th driest year since 1910, while Westmorland had its third wettest year.

Storm Frank hits Britain © Mark Fuller/REX/Shutterstock

5. A cool, wet early summer in northern Scotland – especially for the Western Isles and the Orkneys – led to increasing concerns from the farming industry about poor growing conditions for grass for livestock.

6. For the UK, 2015 as a whole was the 16th warmest year since 1910.

7. December 2015 was the warmest December in a series of records stretching back to 1659 within the central England temperature record – the longest-running continuous temperature series in the world.

8. The lowest daily minimum temperature in 2015 of -13.7C was recorded on 20 January at Loch Glascarnoch, near Garve, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland.

9. The UK experienced a one-day hot spell on 1 July 2015, linked to a significant heatwave affecting mainland Europe. Heathrow recorded a maximum temperature of 36.7 °C – the highest July temperature on record for the UK.

10. The number of days of ground frost for 2015 was 89, 21 days less than the 1981-2010 average.