Rainfall lower than expected for fifth month in a row
SEPTEMBER was the fifth month in a row to be drier than normal, writes Phil Morrish.
Only 32mm of rain fell which was only half the usual total. Rain only fell on 12 days in the month and heavily on just two days. Temperatures were fairly close to normal with the average afternoon maximum being recorded at 18.6c while the night time minimum of 9.6c was just a fraction below normal.
The overall average was therefore 14.1c which is the expected figure for this month. The sunshine total was a little below normal with 125 hours being recorded at Mountsorrel.
The month started very warm and sunny with the month’s warmest temperature of 24.2c being recorded on the 2nd. This day also saw the most sunshine at 11.5 hours.
There then followed two weeks of mainly dry and cloudy weather with average temperatures. The third week saw a change in the weather as three Atlantic wind storms arrived in a few days.
Ex-hurricane Helene arrived on the 18th and winds gusted to 40 mph. The next day saw the first named Atlantic storm called Ali and this time winds peaked at 48mph at East Midlands Airport.
The next day the second Atlantic storm Bronagh arrived and this brought us winds gusting up to 43mph once again and a lot of rain.
The 20th saw 16mm fall which was half the monthly total and our wettest day of the month. The wind and rain did cause some minor damage with a few trees down locally and a little flooding but the dry ground from the summer soaked up most of the rain that fell.
The stormy third week soon ended and then the weather changed again as high pressure settled over us in the final week.
The week beginning the 24th saw 60 hours of sunshine recorded over six consecutive days with temperatures peaking at a balmy 23c.
So as usual September brought us a mixed bag of weather but it wasn’t as warm or settled as many recent Septembers have been.
There has been much speculation in the national media about the severity of the coming winter but in reality know one can really know yet. There are two many factors in the mix and its far too early to call.
However colder winters tend to come in clusters and last winter was our coolest for five years so personally I am expecting a few colder spells and some snow but it won’t be consistently cold.
Really severe winters are very rare in this country and only come round every 30 years or so.
Most of the outlandish claims come from forecasters working directly for newspapers and there is nothing like a good weather story to increase the circulation figures but if you look back barely five per cent of the stories hold any truth whatsoever.
So we will have to wait and see nearer the time to see what winter brings us this year.