Category: Commentary

After the cold, dry and sunny days last week the change in wind direction to WNW brought thick cloud all day and no chance of any sunshine. However, this did return the temperature to near normal with a maximum of 6.1C, being 1.7C below average as the ground is still cold from the frosty nights and cold days.

There was occasional light drizzle in the afternoon amounting to 0.4mm.

Sunday has broken with full cloud cover and a temperature of 6.8C at 08.00

November and Autumn Summary.

November
The month began with mild temperatures by day, 14.4C on the 1st, but the nights were cold with three nights when the thermometer dropped below zero producing a minimum of -2.1C on the morning of the 6th.

The month continued in this pattern as frequent weather fronts crossed the country followed by brighter, cooler periods. The coldest night occurred on the night of the 25th when the thermometer dropped to -2.8C, being 6C below the November average minimum.

Although the daytime temperatures held up well, being 0.3C above the 33-year average, the average night temperatures were 1.5C below. This gave a mean of 6.01C (-0.6C) compared to the very cold November of 1985, which produced a mean of 3.7C and 1994 with 10.1C.

There were 11 nights when an air frost occurred with the November average being 7.

The other notable feature was the lack of rainfall with just 60.3mm, the second successive month with a below average total. This was 32mm below the 33-year average compared to 53mm in October, a significant reduction of 85mm over two months compared to the average, so it is no wonder our rivers continue to run very low.

The strong sunshine total of 86.6 hours was the highest figure over the past four years since this instrument was installed. It is interesting to note that November produced 4 more hours of sunshine than October. The gloomy November of 2015 only gave us 16.4 hours.

Autumn
The three complete months of September to November constitute autumn for meteorological records. This autumn the mean was 0.1C above the 33-year average being exactly the same as the autumn of 2016.

The rainfall total for this three-month period was 167mm, being 69% of the 33-year average or 73mm below. The contrasting years were in 1985 with 116mm and 2006 with 401mm.

We enjoyed 284 hours of strong sunshine over the three months.

Friday continued the flow of Arctic air although the maximum eased up slightly from the previous day to a maximum of 4.8C, still 3C below the December average.

It was a dry day with the brisk northerly wind persisting gusting to 25mph in the morning.

Overnight the thermometer fell little, a minimum of 0.6C, due to the cloud arriving from a weather front heralding a change in the weather.

We had 5.7 hours of strong sunshine yesterday but the thick cloud this morning suggests that during Saturday we will see little of the sun.

Thursday brought us the coldest day since 9th February with a minimum of 3.3C. This was 6.7C below the average but the wind chill meant that that it felt more like -1C.

There were 6.43 hours of sunshine with another totally dry day.

The thermometer dropped to 0.6C, just missing an air frost due to the breeze that persisted throughout the night, peaking at 25mph at its strongest in daylight hours.

Maximum down again to 5.2C: 4.8C below average
Minimum down again to -0.6C: 4.3C below average
Soil at 5cm depth down again at 0.9C: 4C below average

Wednesday was another sunny day with reduced hours of strong sunshine compared to Tuesday, 3.3 hours, as cloud began to obscure the sun early afternoon. With no rainfall again it was the fourteenth dry day this month. The total rainfall of 60.3mm is 32mm below the November average.

There was significant wind chill yesterday from the strong northwesterly breeze, gusting to 19mph, that meant the air felt 2C to 3c below that registered on the thermometer.

An air and ground frost set in just after midnight, due to the clearing skies, that at 08.00 promised more sunshine today.

As tuesday progressed the wind began to veer from the west into the northwest bringing even colder weather. The maximum was just 6.3C (3.7C below average) but the wind chill meant that this felt more like 4C.

The wind from this direction is much drier giving us a greater amount of sunshine, 5.6 hours yesterday, and no rain. The humidity this morning at 08.00 has dropped from the high 90’s on previous days to 89%.

Overnight the thermometer fell to 0.5C, which was 3.2C below average, and producing a ground frost. It is not surprising to find that the soil temperature at a depth of 5cm has dropped to 1.2C, the lowest since 12th February.

This morning is dawning bright with a clear sky and the promise of more sunshine.