Provisional Met Office statistics for October show it was one of the warmest in the national record dating back to 1910.

The mean temperature for the UK is 11.2 °C, which is 1.7 °C above the long-term (1981-2010) average. This makes it the 9^th warmest on record, and means that five out of the top ten warmest Octobers have occurred since 2000 – the others being 2011 (11.3 °C), 2005 and 2006 (11.7 °C) and the warmest on record 2001 (12.2 °C).

Mild nights were a feature across the UK, with most stations south of Scotland yet to report an air frost.

Map showing October rainfall amounts relative to 1981-2010 average

October 2013 is also notable because it was, for most places, dull and relatively wet. Sunshine hours for the UK were 83 % of the long term average, while rainfall was 27 % above average. For England this was provisionally the wettest October since 2000 and equal-8^th wettest in the series.

Northern Ireland and the Western Isles of Scotland have had around average sunshine, but Shetland, south-east Scotland and the north-west of both England and Wales have been particularly dull.

A full summary of the month will be available on our climate pages shortly