Author: Eric Gilbert

May
May was a very cold month being 1.4C below the long-term average and the coldest since 1996. There were three notably poor days for a spring month. On the 14th the thermometer struggled to reach a maximum of 9.6C (average is 17C) also it was the wettest day with 15.7mm of rainfall. On the 24th a maximum of 10.1C was reached but this was accompanied by gale force winds gusting to 36mph making it feel very cold. Finally in the 28th there was continuous rain throughout the daytime. The total rainfall was 62.7mmm being 108% of the long-term average. The total hours of sunshine was 96% compared to the average of recent years.
Spring
The mean temperature was 2.1C below the long-term average making it the second coldest spring that I have recorded as 1984 was marginally colder. Rainfall for the three months totalled 191mm which is 109% of the long-term average.

April 2013 continued the wintry theme without any early sign of spring, initially. For the first seven days maxima were in single figures with sharp overnight air frosts and a minimum of -5.1C on the 7th. As the persistent northeasterly winds gave way to those from a more southerly direction, temperatures by day and night began to recover. The increased cloud cover brought substantial rainfall amounts from 10th to 13th with a maximum of 14.6mm on the 10th.

Not surprisingly, the mean temperature was 1.1C below the long-term average with a maximum of 18.9C on the 23rd. It was the fifth coldest April over the last thirty years and reminiscent of mean monthly figures for the late 1980’s. Air frost occurred on 10 nights, the highest number since 1997, when the average is just 6 occurrences in April.

The rainfall total of 48.6mm was 80% of the long-term average. It is interesting to note that the total for 2012, of 145.8mm, was three times the quantity recorded in 2013 and in direct contrast to just 5.4mm in 2011.

Snow flurries were seen on the 4th and hail on  the 26th and 27th. Fog occurred on two mornings and early mist on two other occasions.

An unusually raised level of UV radiation was recorded on three days, namely 22nd, 23rd and 25th. The usual level for April is classed as ‘moderate’ but the peak recorded figures were rated as ‘high’ that mostly occur on a few days in May.

It was a remarkable month for the persistence of winds from a northeasterly (17days) or easterly (9days) direction and the strength of it over many days. This was due to a persistent blocking high pressure over Scandinavia. There were five days with gusts above 30mph and a maximum of 42mph on the 11th. Due to the strong winds and low temperatures, wind chill was a major factor during many days. There were several days with a windchill factor of -4C, dropping to -6C on the 24th and a very low of -8C on the 11th. It was the coldest March I have recorded with a mean of 3.6C below the long-term average but this masks the fact that the daytime mean temperature was 4.4C below the long-term average. There were a record number of days with air frost, 19 in total (the previous record was 17 in 1995), with the most severe on the morning of the 31st when the thermometer dropped to-6.6C, which was the lowest for the whole winter of 2012/2013. It was not a record for March as we experienced a low of -8.4C in 1985 and 2004.
The total rainfall was 79.7mm, which is 139% of the long-term average with 25.2mm falling on the 15th. However, there were a total of 16 days without precipitation and with the very dry northeasterly winds the humidity levels often dropped low by day and night with a minimum of just 44% on the 14th at 3.00pm.
With so many cloudy days it is not surprising that the sunshine total was 85% of the average over the last few years and solar energy just 73%.
We experienced fog on two days, thunder on one and snow occurred on six days.

FEBRUARY 2013
February is invariably the harshest winter month and proved so in 2013 with a mean 1C lower that January 2013 and over 2C lower than December 2012. It was the coldest February since 1996 with a mean 1.8C below the long-term average. There were only nine days with a maximum above the average although the most severe air frost, which occurred on the 19th, produced a low of -4.8C which is mild compared to the extreme low of -13.8C that was recorded in February 2012. An air frost occurred on sixteen days, five above the average.
The total rainfall was 44.3mm, which is 70% of the long-term average and the first below average month since September 2012.
The last week was notable for strong northeasterly winds circulating around an anticyclone centred over Scandinavia producing low temperatures that combined to produce a wind chill of -5C on two days.
Snow fell on four days with morning fog seen on three days although there were several misty days with low cloud.
WINTER 2012
The mean was 0.7C below the long-term average with an air frost occurring on 41 days, which is seven above the long-term average.
The rainfall total was 331mm that is 138% of the long-term average or +92mm. It was the fourth wettest winter since my records began 30 Years ago.

The first ten days of January were mild and mainly dry, not at all wintry. However, on the 12th a change to cold continental air brought us back to winter with the first light snowflakes falling in the afternoon. Temperatures dropped over succeeding days with thirteen consecutive days of air frost and snow falling on six days with the main accumulations of 13cm and 4cm. The cold days, combining with winds from an easterly quarter, gave a wind chill as low as -7c on the 19th and 20th. The mean temperature was 0.6C below the long-term average with the lowest temperature on the 25th when the thermometer dropped to -5.4C. With winds changing into a southerly direction at the end of the month temperatures recovered and a maximum of 12.6C was noted on the 29th, the warmest January day since 2002. During this latter period strong winds set in with gusts exceeding 30mph over the last five days and a maximum gust, during a rain squall on the 27th, giving a maximum of 42mph.
Rainfall and melted snow gave a total precipitation of 87.8mm, almost equal to the long-term average.
With so much cloud cover it is not surprising that solar power was down almost 10% on the total for 2012 and with ten hours less sunshine.