Climate
North London, like other parts of London and the UK in general, a temperate maritime climate according to the Köppen climate classification system. Four Met Office weather stations currently collect climate data for London North of the river; Hampstead, Heathrow, Northolt and St James Park. Long term climate observations dating back to 1910 are available for Hampstead, which also the most elevated Weather Station in the London area, at 137m. This both hill top and urban position means severe frosts are rare. As one might expect, temperatures increase towards the Thames, firstly because of the urban warming effect of the surrounding area, but secondly due to altitude decreasing towards the river, meaning some of the hillier the northern margins of North London are often a degree or so cooler than those areas adjacent to the Thames. Occasionally snow can be seen to lie towards the Chilterns while central London is snow free.
Typically the warmest day of the year at Hampstead will average 29.3 °C (84.7 °F) with around 14 days in total achieving a value of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or higher. The average coldest night should fall to −5.6 °C (21.9 °F). On average 35.8 nights will report an air frost, some 119 days of the year will register at least 1mm of precipitation, and on 7.4 days a cover of snow will be observed. All annual averages refer to the observation period 1971-2000.
| Climate data for Hampstead 137m asl 1971-2000, | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) |
18.3 (64.9) |
23.1 (73.6) |
26.6 (79.9) |
29.8 (85.6) |
33.7 (92.7) |
34.4 (93.9) |
37.4 (99.3) |
29.4 (84.9) |
28.3 (82.9) |
17.9 (64.2) |
15.3 (59.5) |
37.4 (99.3) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 6.8 (44.2) |
7.3 (45.1) |
10.1 (50.2) |
12.6 (54.7) |
16.4 (61.5) |
19.2 (66.6) |
22.0 (71.6) |
21.6 (70.9) |
18.2 (64.8) |
14.1 (57.4) |
9.7 (49.5) |
7.7 (45.9) |
13.8 (56.8) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 1.6 (34.9) |
1.4 (34.5) |
3.1 (37.6) |
4.3 (39.7) |
7.4 (45.3) |
10.4 (50.7) |
12.8 (55.0) |
12.8 (55.0) |
10.6 (51.1) |
7.5 (45.5) |
4.0 (39.2) |
2.5 (36.5) |
6.53 (43.76) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −10.8 (12.6) |
−12.2 (10.0) |
−6.9 (19.6) |
−3.2 (26.2) |
−0.6 (30.9) |
1.8 (35.2) |
5.6 (42.1) |
4.7 (40.5) |
2.4 (36.3) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
−5.8 (21.6) |
−8.4 (16.9) |
−12.2 (10.0) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 64.72 (2.548) |
39.91 (1.5713) |
52.71 (2.0752) |
53.53 (2.1075) |
59.48 (2.3417) |
58.07 (2.2862) |
44.11 (1.7366) |
59.66 (2.3488) |
63.38 (2.4953) |
71.43 (2.8122) |
60.26 (2.3724) |
64.29 (2.5311) |
691.55 (27.2264) |
| Source: Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute | |||||||||||||
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