Weather in Evershot
A small village in Dorset
Monthly commentary
2010
January 2010
We all know January was cold. The average for the whole month is 5.6°C.
This year it was 1.3°C. The coldest January temperature for the last few
years has averaged -2.8°C, with this year coming in at -7.7°C on the 6th.
And there was snow and fog and grey skies for much of the month. I
counted nine days with snow lying in my garden and three days with fog.
The most rain was the 30.9mm on the 21st, with 19.4mm on the 15th and
14.4mm on the 16th. But apart from those three days, the rainfall was
only 31.1mm, so the month's total of 95.8mm was on the dry side. January
usually gives us about 138.6mm.
February has continued the same weather: grey skies, cool or cold,
dryish. But the cold is forecast to go on past the middle of the month,
with (I hope!) a slow thaw until March and Spring arrive. We shall see
if the pundits are right.
February 2010
Winter is determined to have the last word. Grey skies, drizzle, snow, chill winds from the north have all made for a miserable February. Rainfall, including the snow, has been only slightly below average: 95.2mm against the average 101.0mm. But there were only nine days with no rain at all.
Temperatures were not as bad as in January: the coldest daytime figure was 2.3°C on the 11th, while the warmest daytime figure was 8.9°C on the 5th and also the 27th. Meanwhile there were nine nights with a frost, the lowest being the -3.4°C on the 10th. The overall monthly average was 6.1°C, 3.2°C down on the usual figure for February of 9.3°C.
March has continued with the winter cold, but without any rain at all in the first eight days. But the wind is still in the north, and, while the days are lengthening and becoming sunny, nobody is counting on a real spring just yet.
March 2010
Amazingly there was hardly a drop of rain until the 18th. The next two
weeks then produced 93.9mm. So in half of March we had rainfall
amounting to slightly more than the average for the whole month. The
most fell on the 19th with 25.8mm. We even had a flake or two of snow on
the 31st.
Temperatures were below the normal for March as Winter held on. The highest maximum was the 13.2°C on the 15th, the lowest minimum the -4.1°C on the 4th. This produced an average for the whole month of 5.5°C, against an average of 7.6°C.
April continued the wet theme for the first few days, but then gave us a
real taste of Spring, with blue skies and a few fluffy white clouds. And
the temperatures rose steadily to over 15°C. That's more like it!
April 2010
April showers? Certainly not this year. There were only 9 days with rain in the whole month, and the most in a day was the 13.2mm on the 3rd. The
following 25 days brought only 2.8mm, and the total for the month was a mere 41.8mm.
Much of the month gave us northerly winds, making it feel cold. The daytime figures in the second half of the month were quite reasonable, the highest being the 18.2°C on the 28th. But the minimum temperatures, while avoiding a frost, were distinctly chilly. The lowest was 0.4°C on the 17th. The average for the whole month was 8.7°C, whereas the normal figure is 10.4°C.
May has carried on the northerly winds, making the days feel colder than
the temperatures suggest. So, with little rain to speak of in the first
week, the dry tail end of the winter continues. At least we have not
(yet) been covered in a layer of ash.
May 2010
May is the last month of Spring, according to the Met Office. So it should give us weather that is pointing towards Summer. And certainly the temperatures went up to 27°C, but then fell back again. The overall temperature for the month was 10.9°C, against an average for May of 13.5°C.
But rainfall was well below the average at about 33% of the expected. Indeed there were only 7 days with any appreciable rain at all, and the total came to a miserable (for gardeners and farmers) total of 29.4mm, when the expected total is 86.9mm.
June has continued the trend. The first 6 days gave us little rain, with temperatures in the 20°Cs. The second week is making up for it with some quite heavy showers which the plants are enjoying. But the temperatures are more Spring-like than Summery. And more changeable weather is forecast.
June 2010
In a couple of words, warm and dry. In fact there were only five raindays in the whole month, with the 7th providing two-thirds of the total with 20.8mm out of only 32.0mm. The average for a normal June is 58.0mm, so this year we got just over half of what we might expect. And the total for the year to the end of June was 389.8mm, against an average of 539.3mm, or less than 75%. So, yes, dry.
And warm. The highest was 26.0°C on the 27th, and there were only eight days when the highest temperature failed to reach 20°C. But there were a few chilly nights, such as the 19th, with only 3.9°C. No doubt this brought the overall average for the whole month down to 15.3°C, just under the average for the last few years of 16.8°C.
July has more or less continued the June weather, but with a slightly more unsettled feel to it. For one thing the first week has been quite muggy, making it difficult to sleep at night. The outlook is uncertain, so we must wait and see whether we get a dry or wet summer holiday period.
July 2010
July was another dry month, though with some rain on 16 days in the
month it did not always seem like it. The average is almost 100mm, but
we had only just over half this: 56.9mm against an average of 98.2mm.
The highest was the 16.7mm on the 15th. Much of the later part of the
month brought overcast skies, and it felt humid.
Temperatures were virtually average: the figure for the whole month was
16.5°C, where the average for the last few years is 17.6°C. The highest
was the 25.8°C on the 26th and the lowest 8.6°C on the 3rd.
August has continued the overcast, muggy feeling, with little or no rain
and average temperatures. But some experts are expecting the weather to
break in the last week of August, with heavy rain and gales to herald
the start of Autumn before Summer has really ended. We must wait and see
if they are right.
August 2010
Rainfall was nearly one-third more than expected. The usual rain this month is about 86mm. This year it was 112.4mm. Although there were 20 days with at least some rain, over half fell on just 2 days: 22.2mm on the 25th and a huge 38.6 on the 22nd. But the overall rainfall for the year so far is still only 75% of the average for this time of year: 559.1mm against 778.2mm. But we still have four months to make up the difference. Let's hope it doesn't mainly fall as snow!
Temperatures were below the average for August: the mean this year was 14.8°C, against the average of 17.2°C. The maximum for the month was virtually the same as the average: 19.3°C where the average is 20.7°C. But the lowest was a chilly 6.3°C on the 29th, so this brought the overall figure down.
September has started rather like August: dry with sudden outbreaks of rain and temperatures averaging as expected. The experts are sharply divided over what the rest of the month will bring: some are for an Indian Summer, warm and dry, while others are equally sure that there will be storms, gales and lots of rain. As usual, we must wait and see who's right.
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