Climate Change Chart of Edinburgh, Great Britain

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, the difference in monthly mean temperature was +0.63 °C. This is a comparison of monthly means, not daytime maximum temperatures, and it does not imply that every month was warmer. The largest monthly increase was in January, with a difference of +1.97 °C. By contrast, April had the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -0.47 °C; these extremes show that the overall mean masks month-to-month variation.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall, averaged across calendar months, had a difference of -0.38 mm/day. This is a summary of monthly daily means, not monthly snowfall totals, and does not describe every month individually. The largest monthly decrease was in January, with a difference of -3.36 mm/day; the largest increase occurred in April, with a difference of +0.57 mm/day. These opposing monthly differences help explain why the aggregate comparison is more modest than the largest individual-month change.

Changes in rainfall

For mean daily rainfall, averaged across calendar months, the difference was +0.56 mm/day. This summarizes the monthly means rather than monthly totals, and it does not mean rainfall increased in every calendar month. The largest monthly increase occurred in December, with a difference of +1.55 mm/day; the largest decrease was in April, with a difference of -0.44 mm/day. These month-specific differences indicate contrasting changes in daily averages, not changes to monthly accumulated totals.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration had a difference of -0.05 hours/day when averaged across calendar months. This is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average, and it should not be read as a uniform change throughout the year. The largest monthly increase was in April, at a difference of +0.83 hours/day, while June recorded the largest monthly decrease, at a difference of -0.78 hours/day. The contrasting monthly results add context to the small overall mean difference without implying a continuous pattern between the reference periods.