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.

September 2010
Last month I wrote that experts were divided over whether there would be an Indian Summer in September or gales and lots of rain. The non-Indian Summerites won hands down. The average rainfall in September is 54.7mm. This year we got 116.8mm, or over twice as much. In fact the last few days of the month produced more than the usual for the whole 30 days. The most was on the 30th with 38.1mm.

Temperatures were a little below the average: 13.4°C against an average of 15.2°C. As we might expect, the figures were higher at the start of the month, with a high of 21.8°C on the 3rd, than towards the end, with a chilly 3.2°C on the night of the 25th.

October has begun where September left off: 61.9mm of rain in the first week. And the experts are again predicting an Indian Summer later in the month. Me, I don't believe they know.

October 2010
Rainfall was not much more than half the usual: 102.3mm against 193.6mm. But four days in the month, the 1st, 2nd, 22nd and the 26th, produced over 75% of the total, while 13 days had no rain at all.

Temperatures were on the mild side, but there was no Indian summer. The monthly mean (10.2°C) was slightly below the average (11.7°C), but the daytime temperatures were in double figures on all except three days. However there was a slight air frost (-1.2°C) on two days, which brought the overall figure down.

November has continued the mild trend, but with a heavy storm of rain and wind on the 7th. The rest of the month is forecast to be on the mild side, so winter may not arrive till December. Maybe a White Christmas this year!

November 2010
In October we missed out on an Indian summer, and now in November we had a very early taste of winter. It was what we might expect in January and February -- and they are still to come.

Fortunately what fell out of the sky was mostly rain. There were five days with more than 10mm: the 7th (19.5mm), 10th (26.1mm), 12th (10.8mm), 16th (17.0mm) and 17th (20.5mm). But there was also 3.2mm of snow-melt in the last week of the month: one melts the snow in the rainguage to get the amount. The total for the whole month came to 133.9mm, well short of the average of 172.3mm.

Temperatures whizzed down as the month went on. The highest was the 15.7°C on the 3rd, and the highest minimum was the next day's 12.9°C. But by the end of the month the maximum was -2.1°C and the minimum -5.0°C, both on the 28th. The average for the month came to 5.5°C, against an average for recent Novembers of 8.4°C.

December has continued the trend, with low temperatures not getting above freezing for the first week. Some 'experts' are saying that the cold weather will last into 2011. So perhaps a white Christmas for Evershot this year.

December 2010
Nobody needs reminding that it was cold. There were only eight days without a frost, the lowest temperature being -8.8°C on the 18th. But the last week was quite mild, with a maximum of 9.3°C on both the 28th and 29th. Nevertheless the overall average temperature for the whole month was only just above freezing at 0.4°C, where the expected figure is 6.0°C.

There was not a lot falling out of the sky, and what did was mostly snow. Snow fell on four days and lay for 14 days. It only disappeared during the mild spell at the end of the month. The total rain equivalent for the whole month was 47.7mm, exactly one third of the usual amount in December.

The first week of January has been dry and quite mild, though there has also been a biting wind. Experts are saying a cold snap should return about the 20th. As always, we'll see if they are right.

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