Tag: November

November 2010 proved to be a most interesting month, weather-wise. The first ten days were wet, windy and warm with a maximum of 16.6°C on the 4^th and the warmest night on the 5^th when the thermometer did not drop below 13.4°C although the mean minimum for this month is 3.6°C. The wettest day of the month occurred on the 7^th with 10.5mm although 80% of the total rainfall fell by the 12^th. The contrast began on the 18^th as the winds backed into an easterly then northerly direction for the remainder of the month. The maximum on the 28^th was -1.1°C followed by the coldest night when the thermometer fell to -5.8°C in the early hours of the 29^th. The mean temperature was 1.7°C below the long-term average and the rainfall was 71% of the long-term average.

A number of records were broken this month, since my records began in 1984, with the warmest November day (16.6°C) and the coldest November day (-1.1°C). It was the coldest November since 1993 and the third coldest I have recorded. There were 65 continuous hours of below zero temperatures.

The Autumn of 2010 was the coldest since 1991 being 0.9°C below the long-term average. The total rainfall of 188mm was 77% of the long-term average.

With just two days that were totally dry and almost record rainfall, November was a very disturbed month. Frequent low pressure systems crossed near or over the country and delivered substantial rainfall, a total of 171.8mm was the second highest on record and 193% of the long-term average. The wettest day was the 24^th with 21.2mm but the 18^th brought almost as much rainfall with 18.8mm. As a consequence of the frequent cloud cover the mean temperature was 1.7°C above the long-term average. Also of note was the total absence of any air frost, which has not happened since records began here in 1984. The other feature was the frequent strong winds which reached gale force on a number of occasions. The maximum gusts on the 24^th, 13^th and 14^th were respectively, 42, 50 and 51mph.