Updated: 2026-08-13
If you're wondering whether Manchester's "fine days" — those with a maximum of at least 20°C, a minimum of at least 5°C, and no rain at all — are becoming more or less common, the data from the Met Office station at Rochdale gives a clear picture. The standout year is 1949, when the city enjoyed 53fine weather days in a single year. That remains the highest count on record for this station. Since then, no year has come close to that total.
But the low points are just as striking. The record for the fewest fine days in a year was tied in 1961 and 2008, when Manchester saw just 5fine weather days — barely a week's worth of warm, dry, sunny weather across the entire year, and a far cry from the 53 days of 1949.
This page examines the trend using the official Met Office MIDAS dataset, which is maintained at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA). The data comes from the Rochdale station (station ID 01125), one of the longest-running weather stations in the Greater Manchester region. The series we look at spans from 1947 through 2025, giving us nearly eight decades of weather history.
The definition of a "fine weather day" is precise: a day where the maximum temperature reaches at least 20°C (which meteorologically separates a warm day from a hot one), where the minimum temperature does not fall below 5°C (which removes chilly spring and autumn mornings), and where no precipitation falls. It's a restrictive definition, which is why the numbers are so low — even in the best year, fewer than one in seven days met the criteria. This is a practical, everyday definition of "a day you could comfortably be outdoors without a coat and without rain," which makes it useful if you're planning an outdoor event, a wedding, or a festival.
Looking at the full record, the data shows a series of peaks and troughs rather than a simple, steady climb or fall. The early decades saw some of the highest counts: 1949 led with 53 fine days, followed by 1955 with 48 days. In contrast, the 1960s were notably poor — 1961 had just 5 fine days, 1962 had 8, and 1954 had only 6. Meanwhile, recent years show a more modest picture: 2008 also bottomed out at 5 fine days, while 2007 managed just 15.
The earliest complete years in the series show real variety. 1947 started strong with 35 fine days, but the following year fell to just 16. 1949 then saw an exceptional surge of warm, dry weather to 53 days, the highest level in the entire record. That year stands alone: no other year in the series comes close to that total. 1955 reached 48 days, and 1970 reached 41, but the long-term pattern remains uneven.
The table below shows every year available in the series, starting from the earliest data. You can see the ups and downs of each year, from the peak of 1949 to the troughs of 1961 and 2008.
The chart shows the complete annual series. The table lists the most notable years; the full series comes from Met Office.
| Year | Fine Weather Days |
|---|---|
| 1947 | 35 |
| 1949 | 53 |
| 1955 | 48 |
| 1961 | 5 |
| 1969 | 33 |
| 1970 | 41 |
| 1973 | 32 |
As you can see, the fine weather days trend in Manchester is not a simple story of increase or decrease. It swings dramatically from year to year. The 1940s and 1950s had some exceptional years — both 1949 (53 days) and 1955 (48 days) stand out as high-water marks that have not been matched in any later decade. The late 1960s and early 1970s show moderate numbers, with 1968 at 28 days and 1970 at 41 days, suggesting intervals of decent weather.
But the data also reveals a notable gap. After 1973, the series jumps forward to 2007 and 2008, with only 15 and 5 fine days, respectively. These are among the lowest values in the entire record. 2008, with its 5 fine days, ties with 1961 for the lowest count in the series, suggesting that some recent years have been just as poor as the worst of the 1960s.
The record also shows a striking lack of exceptional years after 1955. If you look at the years after 1955, no year in the series reaches even the 41-day level achieved in 1970, let alone the 53 days of 1949. The highest values from the 1940s and 1950s have not been repeated since, which matters for anyone planning long-term outdoor projects or businesses that depend on weather, such as tourism or event organisers.
For residents, the data offers a practical perspective. A year like 1949, with 53 fine days, means that almost seven weeks of the year would have had warm, dry weather — enough for many weekends outdoors, garden parties, and day trips. By contrast, a year like 2008, with just 5 fine days, offers only about a "great British summer" worth of decent weather, and many a weekend event would have had to be cancelled or moved indoors.
These numbers are not about "old-fashioned" summers being better or worse in any simple sense. Rather, they show that the weather in Manchester is highly variable from year to year. The two most recent years in the series, 2007 and 2008, were both poor — 15 and 5 fine days, respectively — but they are within the range of natural variation seen throughout the record. The pattern does not show a steady upward or downward trend; it shows a series of swings, with occasional years of very high counts (1949, 1955, 1970) and years of very low counts (1961, 2008).
For researchers, this is a reminder that looking at any single year — or even a few years — to infer a climate trend can be misleading. The full record, with its dramatic inter-annual variation, is needed to understand the actual climate of Manchester. The record shows that the city's "fine days" are relatively rare, and that the chance of having a particularly good or bad year is part of the city's climate character.
If we look at the available years across the series, some patterns emerge:
In short, the fine weather days trend in Manchester from 1947 to 2025 is one of stability at a low level, with no clear long-term increase or decrease. What is clear is that the rare years with 40 or more fine days (1949, 1955, 1970) have not occurred again in the later part of the record. That pattern is suggestive of change, but the series after 1973 is sparse, with data only from 2007 and 2008, so a definitive conclusion for the most recent decades is limited by the data available.
The quality of this analysis depends on the robustness of the underlying data. The counts are built from a strict daily definition: a maximum of 20°C or above, a minimum of 5°C or above, and absolutely no precipitation. Each day is counted only once to avoid duplicates. The data has been quality-controlled by the Met Office, and records flagged as "provisional" or "incoherent" have been excluded from the analysis to ensure accuracy.
The period analysed covers from 1947-07-01 to 2025-12-31, which means we have complete years from 1947 through 2025. (The first data point starts on July 1, 1947, so the year 1947 is partially represented, but the years following are full years.) The series is not continuous, however: while there is data from 1947 to 1973, and then again from 2007 to 2008, there are missing years between 1959-1960, 1974-2006, and 2009-2025, which limits the analysis of the long-term trend. A fuller picture for the last fifty years would require data from those intermediate years.
Still, what we can see is remarkable for its extremes. The chasm between the 53 fine days of 1949 and the 5 fine days of both 1961 and 2008 is enormous. It represents a difference of nearly eleven weeks of good weather, the difference between a summer packed with outdoor events and one where you were lucky to get a single good week.
To sum up the series, here are the five years that best illustrate the range of Manchester's fine weather:
These five years, spread across the record, tell the story of Manchester's fine weather. Whether you're planning a festival, a series of sports fixtures, or just wondering if the summer will be any good, the historical data from the Rochdale station provides a sobering reminder: good weather in Manchester is a scarce resource, and its abundance can swing dramatically from one year to the next.
As climate awareness grows, having this long-term baseline is essential. While this series does not indicate a clear tendency towards more fine days, the absence of recent high-count years offers a glimpse that some of the best years may be behind us — but only time, and more complete data, will tell the full story.
Source: Met Office, Rochdale station. Period analysed: 1947–2025.
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© 2026 HistoClima · data: Met Office (OGL v3.0) · not affiliated with Met Office · citation permitted with source.