UKCP09: 1961-1990 Baseline Winter Coldwave Duration for UK Regions

UKCP09 regional values for the 1961-1990 climate baseline, specifically for winter (November-April) coldwave duration. The dataset provides long-term averages for 14 UK administrative regions and 23 river basins, with each regional value calculated as an average of underlying 5 x 5 km grid cells. It was created with financial support from the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and promoted by the UK Climate Impacts Programme.

Use Cases

• Analyze historical winter coldwave patterns based on the 1961-1990 baseline averages.
• Compare coldwave duration across different UK administrative regions and river basins.
• Validate or calibrate climate models using the provided long-term regional averages.
• Assess regional climate vulnerability based on historical coldwave duration data.

Strengths

• Provides a defined 30-year climate baseline (1961-1990) for consistency in analysis.
• Covers two distinct spatial aggregations: 14 administrative regions and 23 river basins.
• Data is derived from a spatial average of underlying 5 x 5 km grid cell values.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Access requires registration on the Met Office website, adding a step to data acquisition.

Provenance

Source

Met Office, UK Climate Projections (UKCP09).

Collection Method

Regional values are averages of 5 x 5 km grid cell values within each region/basin.

Time Range

1961-1990 baseline.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-07-08 13:32:25.773206; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom (14 administrative regions, 23 river basins).