Those swirling lines and triangular symbols on a weather map are a language. Once you can read it, a single chart tells …
Sharing your station’s data to networks like Weather Underground and the Ambient network is free, easy, and turns your h…
Measuring air temperature accurately is far harder than it looks, and most home stations get it wrong for one avoidable …
Fog is simply a cloud at ground level, but the different ways it forms explain why some mornings are socked in and other…
A heat dome can lock a region into days of dangerous, record-breaking heat. The mechanism behind it is a particular trap…
La Niña reshuffles weather patterns across the globe in broadly predictable ways. Here’s what the pattern is, and the ki…
Bristol lies in southwest England on the River Avon, near where it meets the Severn Estuary and the Bristol Channel, at approximately 51.45°N, 2.59°W. It has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen Cfb) — mild, changeable and moderately wet — and its southwesterly, low-lying position makes it one of the milder and sunnier major cities in Britain, though still exposed to plenty of Atlantic weather.
Summer, from June to August, is mild to pleasantly warm, with July the warmest month — average highs around 21–22°C and cool nights. Its southern position helps it warm more readily than the north, and warm, settled spells bring hot days, though Atlantic fronts still deliver their share of cool, showery weather. It is among the sunnier, drier times of the year.
Winter, from December to February, is mild and damp rather than cold, with January and February the coolest — average highs around 8°C and lows near 2°C. The mild southwestern setting keeps hard frost and lying snow relatively infrequent, so winters are more often grey, wet and breezy, shaped by Atlantic fronts, than genuinely icy.
Bristol receives around 800–850 mm of rain a year, more than the drier southeast but less than the wettest western cities, spread through the year with an autumn and winter maximum. Rain tends to come as showers or light persistent rain rather than heavy downpours. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Bristol's mild, relatively sunny climate reflects its sheltered southwestern position, while its setting on the Severn Estuary — which has one of the largest tidal ranges in the world — ties it to a dramatic tidal environment. The nearby hills of the Mendips and the higher ground of the West Country to its southwest catch more of the Atlantic rain, leaving the city itself moderately, rather than heavily, wet.
To follow any single measurement in Bristol more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.