Wanstead’s resident weatherman has given a 2013 weather review of the year, comparing a range of statistics in Wanstead which date back to 1881.

Scott Whitehead, 41, has a £90 weather station set up in his back garden in Wanstead Park Avenue, Aldersbrook, from which he provides hourly forecasts for the area and posts them on Twitter.

According to Mr Whitehead, 2013 rated as fairly average and ranked in as the 46th warmest year since 1881, with a mean temperature of 10.7C, half a degree colder than the 1981 to 2010 average.

Since 1881, 2013 came in as the 68th wettest since 1888, with 554.8mm of rainfall, 92 per cent of the average for the year in the area, despite some areas of the country receiving considerably more.

Mr Whitehead said: “This just reflects how variable rainfall can be. Although the year appears fairly average there were some notable events.

“January and February saw some memorable snowfalls, with 13cm lying on the ground by January 21.

“It was also the coldest recorded March since 1892, with an average temperature of 3.6C.”

By July, Wanstead was in its hottest summer since 2006 with an average temperature of 20.7C, the third warmest July since 1881.

The hottest day of the year arrived on July 22 when 34C was recorded, followed by a thunderstorm in July 23.

The end of October saw the St Jude storm arrive in Wanstead, causing many trees to be uprooted across the borough, leading to multiple park closures and traffic problems.

Storms hit the area again only last month when December saw over 70mm of rainfall, 140 per cent of the average for the month.

Mr Whitehead said: "Despite it feeling like it had been the stormiest December for some years, it was not as windy as December 2012.

"To illustrate this the wind run for this month - the number of revolutions of the anemometer - was 2408.7 miles.

"Last December this was 2654.5 miles. So in other words last December was 10 per cent more windy."