Of our four climate measures, sunshine is the least reliable storyteller. The temperature record, the rainfall trend, and the falling air frost counts all point the same way. Sunshine hours broadly agree with that picture of a warming climate, but the data is noisier, the decade-to-decade swings are larger, and the long-run comparison carries a caveat- sunshine recording instruments and methods have changed over 140 years.

So this data is a corroborating witness rather than star testimony. The tile chart shows decadal means for sunshine hours in our locality, from the same HadUK-Grid dataset (Met Office/CEDA) as the other climate pages. Read it alongside the temperature page and the pattern is familiar: a dip around the 1960s, a general rise through the late twentieth century, and elevated values in recent decades. Nothing in the sunshine record contradicts the warming story — it simply lacks the crisp signal that temperature and frost provide.

There are genuine physical links between warming and sunshine hours, even if the record is noisy. Warmer summers often associate with more settled, anticyclonic weather — clearer skies and longer bright spells. A trend toward drier, sunnier springs and summers fits the wider picture of shifting weather patterns across southwest England. And for daily life, sunshine hours matter in ways temperature alone doesn’t: solar panels on village roofs, tomatoes that actually ripen outdoors, washing that dries on the line.

Our verdict: sunshine supports the local climate story without carrying it. The case rests on temperature, rainfall, and air frost; this page adds colour, context, and a reminder that not every dataset speaks with equal clarity. Publishing the noise alongside the signal is part of being honest about the evidence.