Data in Newcastle was first collected in 1802 by the solicitor James Losh. Situated in the rain shadow of the North Pennines, Newcastle is amongst the driest cities in the UK. Temperature extremes recorded at Newcastle Weather Centre include 32.5 °C (90.5 °F) on 3 August 1990 down to −14.0 °C (6.8 °F) on 29 December 1995. Newcastle can have cool to cold winters, though usually warmer than the rural areas around it, and the winters are often compensated for by warm summers, with very long daylight hours in the summer months, longer than all other major English Cities. Newcastle upon Tyne shares the same latitude as Copenhagen, Denmark and southern Sweden.
The nearest weather station to provide sunshine statistics is at Durham, about 14 miles (23 km) south of Newcastle City Centre. Durham’s inland, less urbanised setting results in night-time temperature data about 1 degree cooler than Newcastle proper throughout the year.