2008 was an eventful weather year

The river Aire, Yorkshire has broken its banks and is in the gardens off the cottages

January

The year started on a mild note for January.

The overnight minimum temperature in London's St. James park on January 20th, didn't fall below 13C. This is one of the highest known January minimum temperatures on record in the UK.

Stormy weather on Monday 21st made headlines, closing the west coast main line, the M1 and M62 and flooding homes.

Floods cause road and rail chaos

February

The mild theme continued into February with areas of Wales seeing near record breaking temperatures of 18.2C on the 12th February.

Trawsgoed (Ceredigion) max temp 18.2C on the 12th February Copley (County Durham) min temp 10.7C on the 20th February

The BBC News website reported on the exceptionally mild weather.

It was the sunshine totals in Bradford, Guernsey airport, Alice Holt Lodge, and Lyneham that broke records during February.

Mild winter leads to hot weather

March

The BBC News website reported on a powerful spring storm that arrived on 10th March. The deep area of low pressure, which brought winds of over 80mph, coincided with high spring tides raising fears of coastal flooding and caused travel disruption.

Rain and high winds battering UK

Easter came unusually early in 2008 and brought snow as well as Easter eggs.

An area of significant snowfall gave 5 to 10 cm across some eastern areas of England on Easter Sunday morning (23rd March).

Easter snow: Your pictures

It stayed cold in Braemar where a minimum temperature of -11.4C was recorded on the 26th March.

April

A band of snow pushed through the Midlands and the southeast on 6th April, closing Heathrow airport for a time. The overnight low in Blencathra (Cumbria) was a chilly -7.7C. Things warmed up by the 26th with Weybourne (Norfolk) seeing a maximum temperature of 22.0C.

May, June and July

The weather quietened down in May, June and July before Mother Nature decided it was time to show her hand again.

August

M1 underpass in Belfast flooded with 20 million gallons of rainwater

August was exceptionally wet, especially in Northern Ireland. A new underpass on the M1 motorway in Belfast was flooded with 20 million gallons of water on the 17th August.

Widespread chaos caused by floods

September

Morpeth was described by Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service as a scene of devastation when it was deluged on the 7th September. Over a thousand homes were flooded and the high street was left under two feet of water.

Morpeth a 'scene of devastation'

October

The next headline grabbing weather event was snow in London in October for the first time since 1934.

Your pictures: Snowy autumn

A torrential hailstorm in the Ottery St. Mary area of east Devon brought an estimated 100mm of rain and hail in just a few hours early on the 30th October, causing major flooding problems.

'Freak' hail causes flood chaos

December

Christmas day was mild, so everyone in the British Isles missed out on some festive snow. The year ended on a very cold note with some cities not getting above freezing by day or night. That didn't stop the New Year celebrations though.

Frozen revellers see in New Year

New Year fireworks over London