The second sunniest autumn on record at Invergowrie
Blog by Joyce Reid, Media officer
A total of 354 hours of sunshine were recorded on our site during Autumn 2024, making this autumn the second sunniest since our records began in 1954.
It was beaten only by the record-breaking autumn of 1986 were 375 hours of sunshine were recorded.
The average daily air temperature was 9.3ºC, just above the autumn average, though it was still the coldest autumn since 2019, when the median temperature was 8.4ºC. 125.5mm of rainfall made it the 14th driest autumn.
Although we may think of autumn as the transition between summer and winter when we notice the leaves changing colour, the Meteorological Office defines the seasons by splitting the year into four periods made up of three months each, so regardless of the weather, the season of autumn begins on 1st September and ends on 30th November each year. This makes it easier to compare statistics.
Digging a little deeper, we can see that autumn 2024 began with the 16th sunniest September since our records began. That was followed by the ninth sunniest October and the eighth sunniest November.
What else can we tell you?
The highest air temperature in November was 15.1ºC on the 7th and the lowest was -4.5ºC on the 29th.
Looking back to the start of autumn, September 2024 was the seventh driest since our records began, the 16th sunniest and the 16th coldest, with a below average daily air mean.
We had a warm, dry and sunny October this year. We saw the 12th warmest daily mean air temperature, rainfall was below average (the lowest since 2018) and sun hours ranked October 2024 as the ninth sunniest on our records.
Last month was the eighth sunniest November we have on our records. The daily air mean temperature was just 0.1ºC below the 30-year long term average and it was the 24th driest November with 43 mm of rainfall.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are the views of the author, and not an official position of the institute or funder.
