December 2022 was colder and wetter than average overall. There were two distinct weather periods, first a cold and mostly dry 17 days followed by 14 days of mild and wet weather.

The month started with High pressure to the North and East with a ridge over the UK. This brought across the district increasingly cold winds from an easterly point and the start of frequent night frosts.  By the 8th the High declined as low pressure moved South from the Norwegian Sea and into the North Sea bringing even colder air originating from the Arctic. Although the weather continued mainly dry for the Dawlish and Teignmouth areas there was a little snow in other parts of SW England. Weather fronts associated with Low pressure to the SW of the UK brought some patchy rain and a little snow to the hills in SW England on the 13th and 14th before moving away. A deep low pressure to the west of Ireland started the change from cold and mainly dry to mild but mainly wet weather. Temperatures on the 18th jumped from around 7 Celsius to almost 14 Celsius as mild but very strong SW winds swept across SW England.  The remainder of the month was changeable with periods of rain or showers with relatively mild temperatures.

In terms of statistics:

The average temperature for the month was around 6 Celsius, that's a degree or so below the thirty year average for December and it was the only month in 2022 with a below average temperature. The highest temperature of the month was around 14 Celsius, occurring between the 19th and 21st. There were frequent frosts between the 8th and 17th with the coldest mornings mostly between the 15th and 17th when values between minus 2 and minus 5 Celsius were recorded. Some valleys in the Netherton and Exminster areas recorded values as low as minus 7 Celsius. Typically, there are around 4 nights with an air frost but this December there were between 8 and 12 night frosts although near Exminster and Netherton there were as many as 17 nights with a frost.

Rainfall totals were typically between 120 and 150mm, that's about 30% more than average. The wettest days were the 18th and 19th with combined totals of 40 to 60mm. The 23rd and 31st were also very wet days. On average there are around 14 dry days in December but this month there was as many as 17 or 18 mostly dry days, despite above average rainfall totals. There were around 12 days with recorded rain of 1mm or more, 5 or 6 days with 10mm or more and a few days with 20mm or more.

Strong winds occurred on the 18th and 19th and between the 27th and 31st.

Sunshine was estimated to be near or a little below the average of 60 hours.

The sea temperature at the Dawlish wave buoy site was around 11 Celsius at the end of the month.