Climate Statistics for Coventry during the 20th Century & beyond (part
of our A level climate change course).

By the end of the 20th century, it had been suggested that Coventry’s
climate had been getting progressively warmer. The table below
highlights the changes in annual average temperatures for each decade,
and for each 30-year climatological normal of the century:

1901-1910 9.33C 1901-1930 9.44C
1911-1920 9.49C 1911-1940 9.52C
1921-1930 9.51C 1921-1950 9.51C
1931-1940 9.55C 1931-1960 9.45C
1941-1950 9.46C 1941-1970 9.26C
1951-1960 9.35C 1951-1980 9.25C
1961-1970 8.96C 1961-1990 9.44C
1971-1980 9.44C 1971-2000 9.88C
1981-1990 9.92C
1991-2000 10.28C
2001-2007 10.73C Recent trend but not a decade.

Although this is not the medium by which to speculate upon the causes
of any changes in annual average temperatures, suffice it to say that
notable warming has been evident over the past 20 years or so, not
only locally but also nationally, and even globally.

2007 was certainly no exception to this trend, though it was a little
cooler than 2006; with an average annual temperature of 11.1C, that
was the equal warmest year in the city with 1990; with such records
dating back to 1892.

In the past 21 years, only 2 years have recorded below average
temperatures in Coventry (1993 and 1996).

Looking in more detail at the records, we find that of the top thirty-
seven warmest years since 1892, 19 of these have been since 1982 –
these are ranked below:

11.1C 1990, 2006
10.9C 2002
10.8C 1989, 2004, 2007
10.7C 1921, 1995, 1997, 2003, 2005
10.6C 1998, 1999
10.5C 1911, 1994, 2000
10.3C 1959
10.2C 1914, 1933, 1982
10.1C 1898, 1983, 1988, 1992, 2001
10.0C 1899, 1913, 1938, 1949, 1961
9.9C 1906, 1918, 1926, 1928, 1945, 1984, 1991

Steve Jackson
Bablake Weather Station
Coventry UK
www.bablakeweather.co.uk