September proved to be another disappointing month with depressed temperatures. The mean maximum was 0.3C below the long-term average and the mean minimum was 1.2C below. There were a few warm days at the beginning of the month but after the 10th mostly cool days prevailed. A maximum of 25.3C was reached on the 9th. No air frosts occurred but several mornings produced a ground frost with the lowest air temperature at 1.8C on the 22nd. September was the first month since May when the total rainfall of 59.5mm was lower than the long-term average at 95%. However, almost half the monthly total fell on the 23rd with 31.7mm. This was the third greatest daily rainfall for September after 1988 and 1984 with 32.4mm and 35.6mm respectively.
A September record was set on the 24th when the barometric pressure dropped to a very low 984.4Mb. Another record was set for the diurnal maximum temperature (daily range between minimum and maximum) with a difference of 25.3C. In contrast to the disappointing month, the solar energy was surprisingly 9% above the average for the last four years.
The weather station of Marlborough, Wiltshire
