Windrush Weather

Author: Eric Gilbert

  • Monthly summary August 2011

    August 2011, after a warm start, 28.0°C on the 1st and the hottest day of the month, proved to be very disappointing. With much cloud and several very wet days the mean temperature was 0.5°C below the long-term average (maximum was -1.4°C). A record was set on the 18th when the maximum temperature was a miserable 12.5°C, the coldest August day I have recorded since the station started in 1984. There were only 13 totally dry days and the total rainfall of 79.5mm was 126% of the long-term average. There were two notable very wet days with 16.2mm and 13.6mm on the 18th and 26th respectively.

    The summer of 2011 was also disappointing. The mean temperature was 0.7°C below the long-term average and the total rainfall of 192mm was 108% of the long-term average.

  • Monthly summary July 2011

    July 2011 was the coldest since 1993. Both the mean maximum and mean minimum were 1.2°C below the long-term average. The warmest day was the 4th with a maximum of 24.7°C but this is only 3°C above the mean for the month. There were several cool nights with the lowest dropping to just 3.9°C in the early hours of the 14th. The rainfall totalled 49.5mm, which is 83% of the long-term average. Interestingly the number of wet days, defined as a daily total equal or greater than 1mm, has risen since the 1980’s from an average of 8 per month to 10. The maximum daily total was 14.5mm on the 16th.

  • Dry spring 2011

    Dry spring 2011

    I have commented in earlier reports on the dry spring. It is well known that in such periods of low rainfall plants set their seed much more quickly. For several years I have kept details of when I plant and harvest my broad beans. The number of days has varied between 92 and 99 days but this year the beans were ready for picking in just 69 days, a significant reduction.

  • Monthly summary June 2011

    June 2011 was a cool month and also broke the trend of three consecutive months with below average rainfall. The mean temperature was 14.3°C which is 0.6°C below the long-term average. There were two brief periods (2nd – 4th and 25th – 27th) when we enjoyed warm weather with a maximum of 27.2°C on the 27th. The record for June stands at 31.6° which was recorded on June 30th 1995.

    The rainfall of 63.1mm was 115% of the long-term average. Looking at the rainfall data for the first six months of the year I find that 2011 was the sixth driest I have recorded since my station started in 1984.

    The solar radiation was 17% below the figure for 2010.

    In a previous email I referred to my anemometer (it is sited at the top of a four metre pole that is fixed permanently above the ridge of the bungalow), which had been attacked by a rook. During June there were three nights when the wind dropped out and the instrument was disabled. This time the culprit/s were spiders which overnight had tied up the anemometer and wind vain. It takes a surprisingly strong gust of wind to break the gossamer threads so I have to free the instruments by standing tip-toe on a wall whilst holding at arms length an eight metre fibre-glass pole.

  • Monthly summary May 2011

    May did bring us some very welcome rainfall, the maximum on the 7th of 22.3mm relieved the parched ground. During the month there were several days with minimal rainfall, these, combined with 6.6mm on the 30th when there were almost eight hours of continous light rain, gave a total of 45.5mm which is 79% of the long-term average. It was a predominantly warm month with no extremes, the highest being 22.6°C on the 6th with the mean 0.8°C above the long-term average.

     

    Looking at the figures for the Spring of 2011, I find that it was the warmest I have recorded and 1.6°C above the long-term average. The change in mean temperatures since I started recording in 1984 is quite remarkeable. It is no surprise to find that the total precipitation for Spring 2011 was very low and in fact a record for my station. With a total of only 64.6mm, which is just 36% of the long-term average, it beat the previous low of 66mm in 1990.