The thermometer dropped below freezing for a couple of hours around dawn with a minimum of -0.1C. This is the first air frost to occur in autumn 2014, being as late as 4th November
The incidence of the first air frost in autumn has been, on average, getting later over the last thirty years. This is the second latest since my records began in 1984. My records for the 1980s show the first air frost always occurred in September except in 1986 when it was later on 7th October.
A full analysis showing how, on average, this event has moved later in the calendar over the last 31 years will appear in the next few days.
Author: Eric Gilbert
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First air frost of autumn
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Summary for October 2014
October 2014 will be remembered for the above average temperatures throughout much of the month but also for the dismal few days from the 12th to the 18th.
The average temperature was 11.99C, which is 1.5C above the long-term average. The extremes were 12.77C in 2001 and 6.95 in 1992. Highlights were the very warm days at the start of the month but the warmest day was on the 31st when the thermometer peaked at 20.7C. The record for this month is a high of 26.7C, which occurred on 1st October in 2011. The warmest night of the month was recorded on the 31st when the thermometer did not drop below 13.8C, which is very close to the average day temperature. The 5th brought the coldest night with a minimum of 0.7C.
With the wind coming from a southerly quarter for 21 days it is not surprising to find that there were no air frosts during the month. Previous to the year 2000 at least one air frost was recorded in each October but in the last 14 years, eight have been free of air frosts.
Rainfall fell predominantly during the first half of the month with large falls of over 10 mm on three days and a maximum of 14.1mm on the 13th. The total rainfall amounted to 92.2mm, which is close to the long-term average of 88.9mm. This total is far less than the heavy rainfall in the previous two years. However, the extremes occurred in 2004 with 159.3mm and in 2003 that was very dry with only 36.8mm. There were only ten dry days during the whole of the month.
Many days were quite windy with four days producing maxima in excess of 30mph. The peak gust occurred on 21st with a maximum of 38mph.
Sunshine amounted to 66 hours during the month. The two sunniest days were 7th and 28th when 6.16 hours and 6.19 hours were recorded respectively. There were six days when no sunshine was recorded, mainly occurring in the middle of the month and the 29th.
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Warmest night at end of month
With a minimum of 14.1C overnight it was the warmest night of the month and only 0.5C cooler than the average for the daytime. This is thanks to the continuing southerly airstream. There were only two warmer nights throughout the whole of September.
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Sunniest day for a month
Yesterday gave us 6.2 hours of direct sunshine. It was the sunniest day for a month and the warmest since the beginning of October with a maximum of 18.5C.
The minimum for the previous night was 11.9C, which is 4.5C above the 30-year average. -
Southerly winds bring mild air and no air frost so far this month
The average rainfall for October fell in the first half of the month and recently very little has fallen to add to this total, now 89.6mm. The southerly winds have been bringing mild air with overnight minima in double figures and no air frost this month so far.
My records since 1984 show that there have been seven instances when no air frost has been recorded in October and these have all occurred since the year 2000.