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A treat for the kids as hottest Halloween continues 'remarkably' warm year A treat for the kids as hottest Halloween continues ‘remarkably’ warm year
(about 7 hours later)
Friday is expected be the warmest Halloween on record, continuing a “remarkable year” of high temperatures, weather experts have said. The record for the warmest Halloween in Britain was been broken as temperatures reached 23.6C (74.5F) at Kew Gardens in west London and Gravesend in Kent, beating the previous high of 20C (68F) set at Dartford in Kent in 1968.
The mercury could hit an unseasonably warm 21C (70F) in the south-east, eight degrees higher than is normal for this time of year. Conditions were warmer than those in many popular holiday destinations, including Rome (20C), Barcelona (22C) and San Francisco (19C). Charlwood in Surrey and Filton in Bristol also beat the previous record to provide an unseasonably warm end to October that has seen people taking to the beach for a dip rather than wrapping up against a chill.
So far, 2014 is the warmest year on record, following consistently mild temperatures which have continued into autumn, weather forecaster MeteoGroup said. But October alone will not break any records, despite being both warmer and wetter than average. Supermarket Tesco said the weather had prompted record October barbecue and party food sales.
Laura Caldwell, a forecaster, said: “The whole year to date has been the warmest on record so far. It’s been a remarkable year for above-average temperatures.” Its Halloween manager Serena Fleming said: “Not only is Halloween on a Friday but with the unseasonably warm and dry weather we believe many people will hold parties with festivities spilling out into gardens and barbecue cook-outs around bonfires.
Nine out of the 10 months this year have seen above-average mean temperatures, with only August having been below average, the Met Office said. The UK mean temperature for the month so far is 11C, which is 1.5C above average – a few degrees short of the 12.2C record set in 2001. “The weather is even predicted to be sunny and warm on Saturday so we could even see more barbecues taking place then.”
But while the weather has been warm, the hours of sunshine were around 15% below average. Rainfall has also been 16% higher than average up to the 28th of the month. The Met Office announced the record was crumbling in a series of tweets on Friday morning and into the afternoon, with first Filton then Charlwood beating the previous hottest mark.
There were some regional variations, with parts of Scotland, the Isle of Man and Cumbria much wetter than average while Wales was drier. The latest at just before 4pm read: “The temperature has risen again for the warmest #Halloween on record with both Gravesend and Kew Gardens recording 23.6C.”
Next week the weather will begin to cool and temperatures will return to the average for November of around 10C or 11C. Forecasters had predicted 21C (70F) could be recorded on Friday in the south-east, eight degrees higher than normal for this time of year, but the temperature went 2.6C past that.
So far, 2014 is the warmest year on record, following consistently mild temperatures which have continued into autumn, weather forecaster MeteoGroup said. But October will not break any records, despite being warmer and wetter than average.
Nine out of the 10 months this year have seen above-average mean temperatures, with only August below average, the Met Office said.
The UK mean temperature for the month so far is 11C (51.8F), which is 1.5C above average – a few degrees short of the 12.2C (54F) record set in 2001.