UKCP09: 5km Gridded Annual Average Cooling Degree Days for the UK

12 monthly gridded files provide annual averages for cooling degree days across the UK at a 5km resolution. The data represents the 1961-1990 average period and was created with financial support from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The UK Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) promotes this dataset as part of the UK Climate Projections (UKCP09).

Use Cases

• Modeling historical energy demand for air conditioning based on cooling degree day metrics.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of cooling requirements across the UK based on 5km gridded data.
• Establishing a 1961-1990 baseline for climate change impact studies on building energy use.
• Validating climate models using historical gridded observations of temperature-derived indices.

Strengths

• Data is provided at a high spatial resolution of 5km across the UK.
• Covers a consistent 30-year baseline period from 1961 to 1990.
• Sponsored by a national government department (Defra) and promoted by the official UK Climate Impacts Programme.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:55.968637; freshness should be verified.

Provenance

Source

Met Office, UK

Collection Method

Likely derived from meteorological station observations interpolated to a 5km grid.

Time Range

1961-1990 (average period)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:55.968637

Geography

United Kingdom