Weather in Evershot

A small village in Dorset

Monthly commentary

2009

January 2009
The first two weeks were quite dry, producing only 18.4mm of rain. But the rest of the month made up for it with 103.0mm, including 22.8mm on the 21st. Altogether it gave us 121.4mm, or just over 80% of the average for the month.

Temperatures were low for the first 10 days, but then returned to more mellow figures. All the same, the highest for the month was the 9.5°C on the 12th, not even into double figures. The lowest was on the 6th, with a chilling -8.4°C. This helped the overall average for the whole month to drop to only 3.3°C, where the average is 6.7°C.

But at least it gave us a foretaste of what February was to bring. The first week has brought us snow and low temperatures: the mean so far is only -0.4°C, and outlook is for more of the same. Let's hope we get a decent spring and summer this year to make up for it.

February 2009
February is often a strange month for weather. Sometimes it is very dry, other years extremely wet. February 2007, for instance, gave us 227mm of rain, when the same month in 2005 produced only 45mm. This year was on the dry side with 57mm. The average is 101mm. On the 1st, 2nd and 5th the "rain" fell as snow. There was only one day with rainfall in double figures: the 9th gave us 18.4mm, a third of the monthly total.

Temperatures were not too far from average. The minimum was -6.5°C, on the 2nd, one of the snowy days, when any warmth from the sun is reflected back skywards by the snow. But there were warmer days too, the highest being the 11.6°C on the 22nd. The average for the whole month was 4.0°C, against an average for the last years of 6.0°C.

The first week of March has been brighter than most of February, which brought an apparently endless succession of grey, dull, chilly days. Spring seems to have arrived although we also got a dump of snow on the 5th, 19cm in my garden, with as much as 30cm reported elsewhere in the village. But the frogs have successfully spawned in spite of the changeable weather.

March 2009
March was amazingly dry. There were 18 days with no rain at all. In fact, the greatest amounts, 18.8mm on the 3rd and 15.6 on the 5th, were not of rain, but of snow. So only about one-third of the total 52.2mm was actual rain, and two-thirds fell in the first week.

Temperatures were slightly down too. The average for the whole month was 6.6°C against 7.7°C for the last few years. There were five nights with a frost, the lowest being the -3.8°C on the 3rd. But the highest temperature was the respectable 15.8°C on the 19th.

April has started mild and dry, but wet and windy weather is forecast for the days around Easter: April showers indeed.

April 2009
April followed February and March in being a dryer than average month. Total rainfall was 57.0mm against an average of 73.9mm over the last few years. The highest April figures I have recorded were the 122mm in 2001 and 120 in 2004. But against them there was an amazing 6mm (yes, six!) in 2007. So there is no way of telling in advance if the rain will fall. This year the most, 12mm, fell on the 7th, but there were also 12 days with no rain at all.

The mean temperature for the whole month was 9.3°C, the expected figure being 10.4°C. But this is better than April last year when it was only 7.7°C. The highest was the 18.4°C on the 20th, slightly below the average of 19.7°C, and the lowest nighttime temperature was the 0.5°C on the 27th. So just not an air frost, though there was a ground frost on a few mornings.

The first week of May has been mild, dry, sunny, but windy. The garden plants think Spring is nearly over and are ready for a good Summer ahead. We shall see.

May 2009
Rainfall, at 33.8mm, was under 40% of the usual for May. Last year, for instance, we had 84.4mm. The highest in a day was the 7.8mm on the 14th, but there were also 16 days with none at all. So overall, a dry month.

The temperatures were low in the first ten days, but got progressively warmer as the month went on, until in the last week we had a mini heatwave. The nighttime low was the 3.1°C on the 1st, while the highest daytime temperature was the 23.4°C on the 31st. The average for month was 11.8°C, against an expected 13.5°C, so the lower temperatures won.

The last four days of May were dry and warm, and June has continued the trend. The first significant rain was 16.0mm on the 6th, which the vegetables appreciated, even if the walkers did not. The outlook for the rest of June is variable, as if we did not know.

June 2009
There were 17 days with no rain at all, plus another 4 with only a few drops. So 75% of the month was almost completely dry. But there were two days with substantial rainfall: the 6th (16.0mm) and the 25th (17.6mm). It is no coincidence that there were claps of thunder on both days. The total rainfall for the month was 43.7mm, where we would expect to get 59.8mm.

Temperatures in June are often quite high: the average for the whole month is usually 17.0°C. This year it was down, at 14.8°C. The warmest was the 25.7°C on the 30th, the coldest the chilly 4.0°C on the 7th.

July's first week has been warm and fairly dry. But change is on the way: what else would you expect with Test matches due.

July 2009
The warmest day of the month was the first: a massive 29.5°C. Summer had really come. It didn't last. We had only six more days with high temperatures of 20°C or more. So much for summer. The overall temperature for the month was 15.3°C, against an average of 17.8°C.

Of course the rain did not help. There were only six days with no rain at all, while the other 25 days contrived to produce a huge 167.6mm. The most was on the 29th with 34.8mm. The average for July is 102.8mm, so this was something of a deluge.

August has started where July left off: rainfall of 58.2mm on the 4th and mostly low temperatures. Still, it might help England win the Ashes.

August 2009
Summer 2009 (June to August) was wetter than usual, but almost as warm. Rainfall was 329.0mm, where the expected amount is 243.9mm, so 135% of the usual. The average temperature for the three months was 15.2°C, not far below the 17.2°C of the last few years.

August's rain was 117.7mm where the average is 83.1mm. This is the second highest August figure I have recorded, the highest being 2007 with 125.8mm. The most in a day was the huge 58.2mm on the 4th. Surprisingly there were twelve days with no rain at all.

The highest temperature was the 24.5°C on the 11th, the lowest 8.4°C on the 28th. There was only one other night when the temperature fell below 10.0°C. The average for the whole month was 15.6°C.

September has started rather well: after a week of grey skies, we are promised blue skies and warm days for the next two weeks or so. Maybe this is the summer we've been waiting for.

September 2009
After the wet July and August, September was unusually dry. The average for the month is 54.7mm, but this year it gave us only 38.3mm. Even more unusually, the first three days of the month produced virtually all the rain, 32.9mm, leaving only 5.4mm scattered thinly over the other 27 days. There were 20 days with no rain at all. So something like a drought for most of the month.

Temperatures were above the average: 17.8°C against an expected 15.2°C. We had three days with a temperature of 20°C or more, and the lowest maximum was a balmy 15.7°C. The lowest night temperature was a reasonable 5.7°C.

So, if September brought us our Indian summer, October has begun with an autumnal feel. Already in the first week we have had more rain than in the whole of September: 40.7mm. But there are some fine sunny days ahead too apparently. Meanwhile my pond has filled up nicely.

October 2009
October was a grey autumnal month, but the rainfall was only just over 70% of the monthly average: 143.3mm against an average of 193.6mm. But July and August's rain was higher than usual, and so the total for the year so far is 990.0mm against an expected 832.0mm. There were only 4 days without rain, but many with only a drop or two. The most was the 27.2mm on the 20th.

Temperatures were almost exactly on the average. The overall mean for the month was 11.6°C against an average of 11.7°C. The highest was the 18.4°C on the 28th and 30th, the lowest a chilly 1.3°C on the 17th.

The winds in the first week of November have made it feel cold, but the temperatures have not been all that low – yet. But cold, wet and windy weather is forecast for the middle of the month, and so, with snow already seen on the tops in Scotland, winter is nearly here.

November 2009
November's weather was rather like that old Stanley Holloway joke: wet and windy. We had only two days with no rain at all. The average for the whole month is 166.1mm. This year we had 227.9mm, or 137.2% of the average. The highest was the 27.5mm on the 21st, but there were four days with 20mm or more. And the blustery winds did nothing to help.

The temperatures were higher than usual for November, whose overall average is 8.8°C. This year it was 9.1°C. There was only one air frost: -1.8°C on the 30th. The highest day temperature was 16.9°C on the 15th, and the highest night temperature was 12.0°C on the 19th.

December has begun where November left off: wet, windy, mild. But there are signs that winter will arrive in the second half of the month.

December 2009
December's rainfall was only slightly above the average: 152.2mm against 143.8mm, most of it in the first week or so, when we had 104.1mm. The next two weeks gave only 10.3mm.

But the feature of the month was the temperature change. The first 10 days were comparatively mild, with double figures by day. Then it got progressively colder until the temperature did not get above freezing on the 18th. From then until the end of the year there were no more readings in double figures. The overall average temperature for the whole month was 3.7°C where we would expect 6.0°C. So the year as a whole was slightly drier and cooler. The rainfall totalled 1212.1mm compared with the average of 1275.5mm. The temperature for the whole year came out at 10.2°C where the average is 11.4°C.

The New Year has started with snow, ice and bitter cold in the first week of January, and expectations are that this will last into February, with perhaps a few milder days scattered through the month. Not good for OAPs like me!

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