December was one of the mildest in past 20 years...

Snow and cold weather distinct possibility this month

DECEMBER was once again a very mild month. Indeed it was the second mildest month in my records going back 20 years.

Only 2015 was warmer than this December.

Afternoon temperatures were logged at 9.3c with night time values at 4.3 c. The mean temperature of 6.8c was 2.2c above normal. There were only five air frosts and no snowfall was reported at all.

It was a very wet month too as mild SW OR W winds brought plenty of cloud and rain for the first three weeks with the final week bringing a return to quiet and settled weather and high pressure. 98mm of rain fell at my Mountsorrel station which was 60 per cent above the usual total of 61mm.

The wettest day was the 21st when 24mm of rain fell but due to previous months being quite dry flooding was not too much of a problem with just the usual spots suffering a few difficulties.

The first three weeks were mild and damp with our mildest day of 13.4c being recorded on the 2nd. There was a short cooler spell with temperatures on the 14th only reaching 3.5c and that night they fell to the months coldest of -2.2c.

The 14th was probably the only really cold day in the entire month as mild SW winds maintained themselves most of the time. There were quite strong winds at times too and they peaked with a gust of 41mph on the 20th.

Sunshine figures at my station were below normal at just 40 hours of 73% of normal. So all in all a fairly quiet December weather wise but as it reached its end weather patterns in the high atmosphere began to change and the stratosphere began to warm quickly.

The effect of this usually is the winds at the surface tend to turn into the east about a fortnight later.

Snow and cold is therefore a distinct possibility later in January as winds come in from a cold continent but this not yet a given!