Storms hitting UK at same time led to one of country's wettest days on record

Storms Austen and Boelo striking different parts of the UK at the same time contributed to 24 October being one of the wettest days Britain has ever seen. <p>An average of 21mm of rain fell over 24 hours on average across each of the 263 weather stations featured in Sky's Weather Record tool, which analyses tens of millions of data points to tell you about temperature and rainfall records where you live.</p><p>That's more than usually falls over a week in October - making it the wettest single day since 2020 and the eighth wettest day in our records overall, dating back to 1961.</p><p>Half of the weather stations in our analysis recorded at least twice as much rain on 24 October than they did during the entire month of July this year.</p><p>Boscombe Down in Wiltshire had 70% more rain in October than it does in a typical year - an additional 55mm in total.

But despite the recent downpours, the area has still received 20% less rainfall than usual since May.</p><p>Overall, four in five of our weather stations have recorded less rainfall than normal over the past six months. The station at Hereford Credenhill is one of several that has received little more than half of its typical rainfall since May.</p><p><strong>See how your area compares by searching your postcode or nearest city in Sky's Weather Record tool below:</strong></p><widget id="2"></widget><p>The Met Office has already warned that the <strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/uk-weather-autumn-more-likely-to-be-wetter-than-average-with-greater-risk-of-floods-13584334" target="_self">El Nino conditions in the Pacific are putting the UK at risk of a wet, stormy autumn</a></strong>.

This analysis shows the first effects of that in each part of the country.</p><p>This weather phenomenon takes place when sea-surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific rise above average, which can have a knock-on effect on weather in Europe.</p><p>The findings come as world leaders including Andy Burnham (but excluding Donald Trump) are expected to head to COP31 - the UN's annual climate summit - which is being held in Antalya in Turkey this year.</p><p>They are set to discuss how to progress towards previously agreed aims to transition away from coal, oil and gas, and whether the current plans are sufficient to limit global warming to the target of no more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

That limit has already been broken in recent years.</p> <widget id="4"></widget><p><strong>Temperature records broken in 2026</strong></p><p>As well as contributing to storms, El Nino has also contributed to the UK experiencing more record-breaking days of high temperatures in October. This year is still on track to hold more daily temperature records than any previous year since at least 1961 - it already holds almost 20% more than any other year up until the end of October.</p><p>A further 270 daily heat records were set in October, as well as a single cold record, meaning so far this year there have been over 4,300 heat records set, as well as 44 cold records.</p><p>The most exceptional day for warm weather last month was 15 October.

At the Rothamsted weather station in Hertfordshire, about halfway between Luton and Watford, it had never previously reached above 20C (68F) at that time of the year - the previous record of 19.4C (67F) was set in 2005. That was smashed by three degrees this year.</p><p>A further 68 places set daily temperature records that day, including places like Bainbridge in North Yorkshire and Loftus in Cleveland.</p><p>Baltasound, in Shetland, set four different daily records in October - on the 1st, the 26th, the 29th and the 30th - more than any other weather station this month and as many as that station had set over the rest of 2026 so far.</p><p>Fyvie Castle in Aberdeenshire was the only place to set a new cold record.

On 23 October, the temperature peaked at just 6.8C (44F), falling narrowly short of the previous record low for that day - 6.9°C recorded on 23 October 2003.</p><p>We will keep tracking how El Nino hits different parts of the UK as winter develops.</p><p><strong><a href="https://news.sky.com/story/how-unusual-is-the-weather-near-you-use-our-interactive-tool-to-find-out-13595784" target="_self">You can read the full methdology for The Weather Record here</a>, and also see more analysis related to this year's record-breaking summer.</strong></p><hr /><p><em>The </em><a href="https://news.sky.com/topic/data-and-forensics-9532" target="_self"><em><strong>Data and Forensics</strong></em></a><em> team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News.

We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open-source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.</em></p>