Broad Street Wrington
Meteorological Report
2001



Local councillor and meteorological enthusiast, Dawn Judd, kindly provides us with
a weekly met. report based on readings she takes daily at her home - 8.30am for the rainfall.















Review of 2000 January February March April May June July August September October November December


Review of 2001
We had 1047mm of rain, which is almost 42" . This is slightly below average looking over 10 years, but this follows a year well below average.

It rained on 114 days, and the longest spell of rain was in August, when it rained on 8 consecutive days.

The longest dry spell was in December - 21 days without rain, making this the driest month (30mm) closely followed by September (32mm). The driest summer month was June (35mm) whereas June and July were both wet.
30th December, 2001- 5th January, 2002
A very cold week with the temperatures down to -6ºC in our gardens in the early morning of Wednesday. It warmed up on Friday and Saturday with a little rain - 1mm.
23rd - 29th December, 2001
11mm of rain this week - 5mm on Boxing Day and 6mm of wet snow and sleet on the 28th - but dry on Christmas Day. Although there was a touch of dampness in the air in the morning, it was not a measurable amount.

Some hard frosts, though, with temperatures down as low as -3ºC on two occasions, and a bitter east wind.
16th - 22nd December, 2001
No measurable rain this week. A little dampening a couple of times, but mainly cold and frosty - although once or twice we went to bed with a frost, and woke up to find it warmer and damp.

Very cold wind from the north-east or east. I hope it stays dry for 25th, but I will be very surprised if we have snow.

Happy Christmas to everyone, and I hope next year we all have the weather we want.
9th - 15th December, 2001
A dry week with quite a lot of frost and a very cold wind at times. So far, this December has been a repeat of 1996 when it rained on only 2 days.

I've been looking at 25th December to see what Christmas Day may be like. In the last 12 years we have had a dry day only four times. In 1998 there was 31mm on 25th and no snow at all. In 2000 it snowed on 27th December.
2nd - 8th December, 2001
Two wet days this week - 17mm in total. Cold again, particularly towards the end of the week. With the wind swinging round to the east, all the leaves seemed to drop overnight, and, with the days still becoming shorter, it seems quite gloomy by mid-afternoon.
25th November - 1st December, 2001
65mm of rain this November - the lowest for the month over the last 10 years - beating 1999 by 5mm. The figures would be a lot different if we hadn't had 47mm in the last week. Certainly the best November for a long while.

December has, in the past, been very variable from a high of 210mm in 1993 to a low of 32mm in 1996. The average over 10 years is 126mm, so usually a fairly wet month - and fairly mild ..... we shall see !
18th - 24th November, 2001
A 'nothing-much' sort of week weatherwise - not much rain (4mm only), not much wind, not much sun or frost.

The leaves seem to be coming down in showers now. Some trees are already bare, but our quince and crab-apple are still green. At this rate, I shall still be sweeping up leaves at Christmas !
11th - 17th November, 2001
Only 5mm of rain this week, although it has been very damp and gloomy at times. Quite cold in the early part of the week, with frost by morning a couple of times, and the wind drifting round to the north. It certainly makes it feel colder than the thermometer tells us.
4th - 10th November, 2001
Only 9mm of rain this week - but our first frost, and some hail on Thursday. A bitter north wind really made it feel very cold, especially on Friday. Could winter be here ?
28th October - 3rd November, 2001
Only 5mm of rain this week - a good week for half-term for a change - light winds and some lovely sunny days after early morning mist.

October has been a good month this year, in spite of above average rainfall - 151mm. The big difference is that a lot of the rain fell during the night, giving us fine days.

It rained on 18 days, which is about average for October, but rainfall was slightly heavier.

No real frost yet, but we rarely get frost here this early in the winter. In some years we've not had frost until January, but the finer the weather is during the day, the more likely we are to have a frost at night. So all half-hardy plants should be in shelter now.
21st - 27th October, 2001
A wet week - rain on 6 days, with the most on Friday - 17mm. We had 59mm in all.

Temperature is still fairly good for late October, and we have had no frost, so our gardens are still looking good.
14th - 20th October, 2001
44.5mm of rain this week - 25mm falling on Friday night - Saturday morning. Autumn seems to have arrived as it is much cooler at night now, but during sunny spells it still feels like summer.

Saturday afternoon was lovely, but there was condensation on our bedroom windows this morning.
7th - 13th October, 2001
Only 14mm of rain this week - it rained on 2 days - but the air has been a bit damp, especially in the early morning. Temperatures have been quite high for October. Towards the end of the week - yesterday (Saturday) - it didn't drop below 60ºF overnight. I hope it continues !
30th September - 6th October, 2001
Autumn has really arrived now - 35mm of rain this week - it rained on 5 days - and a lot cooler by Saturday. After the best September we've had for a long while, and the driest for at least 10 years, with only 32mm of rain.

Blagdon and Chew Valley lakes look quite low now. We walked round Chew Valley last week across ground that was several feet under water in the Spring. The difference is amazing, but I'm sure it will soon fill up again !
23rd - 29th September, 2001
12.5mm of rain this week - it rained on 5 days - but not enough to be a problem. Today has been lovely - really warm and sunny after an early morning shower.

The winter will seem shorter this year with us having such a good September.
16th - 22nd September, 2001
Another dry week with only 2mm of rain. It's now more than a month since we had a useful amount of rain as far as the garden is concerned.

It's worth checking your garden and giving any shrubs and trees planted in the last 2 years a good soak, as they won't yet have a deep root system.

All this dry weather is lovely for us, but not so good for our gardens !
9th - 15th September, 2001
We are lucky this year, after a series of bleak Septembers, this one has been lovely so far. Only 10mm of rain this week - on 2 days. Otherwise it continues to be the kind of September we all hope for, and rarely get.
2nd - 8th September, 2001
Only 2.5mm of rain this week, very different from last year, when the first week produced 37mm.

Pleasantly warm days but much cooler morning and evening, with a heavy dew. There should be some field mushrooms about now, and the blackberries are the best I've seen for years.
26th August - 1st September, 2001
A nice dry week for the last week of the school holidays - only 2mm of rain - but getting much cooler, especially in the evenings.

August has been a fairly wet month, with rain amounts well above average - 140.5mm. It rained on 15 days - not as much as 1997 when we had 179mm on 8 days !

September has been very variable over the last 10 years, with 36mm in 1996 when September was dry up to 24th, compared to 2000, with 182mm spread over 20 days.

So, anything can happen, but it will get colder as the month progresses, and darker, although gardeners should still have plenty to enjoy in their gardens if it's not too wet.
19th - 25th August, 2001
Only 2mm of rain this week. Although the cloud at times, particularly in the early part of the week, threatened much more.

Lovely and warm, but with high humidity, made it feel a bit unpleasant some of the time. A treat for us to have the prospect of a fine holiday weekend for once.
12th - 18th August, 2001
28mm of rain this week here, and a lot more where I was, in Pembrokeshire. There, it rained heavily and persistently for hours, with odd spells of sunshine, and for several days the cloud was at ground level, so it was foggy all the time. Which does demonstrate the diversity of British weather patterns, as we were only about 100 miles away.
5th - 11th August, 2001
A very wet week - 93mm of rain. No wonder the roads were so flooded - 35mm on Tuesday and 21mm on Wednesday. This is very unusual - even in winter we rarely have this amount of rain in one week.
29th July - 4th August, 2001
119.5mm of rain in July, making it the wettest July for more than 10 years. All the rain fell between 2nd and 21st - the most being on 9th, when there was 27mm.

From 22nd until the end of the month it was dry and sunny.

August has started badly with 35mm of rain in the last 3 days. I hope it improves, but I think it will remain unsettled for the next few days at least.
22nd - 28th July, 2001
No rain all week, and lovely warm days and only slightly cooler nights.

On Saturday the temperature reached 90ºF in the shade - what a lovely start to the school holidays [... for those who can stand the heat ! - Ed]
15th - 21st July, 2001
So, it didn't rain on St Swithin's day, but it's rained every day since - 25mm this week !

We've had some good sunny spells in between - Wednesday, Thursday morning and a good part of Monday, when it was fine, hot and sunny until late evening, when rain started moving into the area. This gave us a mainly wet Tuesday.
8th - 14th July, 2001
Well, another wet week - 61mm of rain in all. Either we've had all our July rain or it's going to be a wet month. Most of the rain fell on Monday and Thursday - some of it very heavy and with a strong gusty wind, doing quite a lot of damage in our gardens, which made it very unpleasant to be outside.

St Swithin's day today (15th) but not, I'm afraid, a very accurate weather predictor ! If it rains today it's supposed to rain for 40 days, which I've never known to happen, although it's come close once or twice.

Conversely, if it remains dry we are supposed to have fine weather until nearly the end of August - very unlikely I think [Chance would be a fine thing - Ed]. We'll probably get the usual mixture !
1st - 7th July, 2001
Well, July certainly started with a bang ! We had the longest thunder storm for many years. It started in the early hours of Wednesday morning and continued until after 9am.

There was structural damage from lightning strikes in both Wrington and Redhill, and all the secondary children came home at 10am because Churchill School was flooded.

We've had 32.5mm of rain this week - most falling during the thunder storm - so some good came from it !
24th - 30th June, 2001
8.5mm of rain this week, making a total of only 35mm for June. This has given us the driest June since 1996. It was also warm towards the end of the month, but the temperature was kept down in the earlier couple of weeks by a cold wind.

Although we have only just passed the longest day, I am already noticing that it is getting dark a bit earlier in the evening.
17th - 23rd June, 2001
No rain this week - lovely sunshine instead - but still cooler in the evenings, until last night (Saturday). Yesterday the wind suddenly swung round from the north-east to the south-west, making it much warmer in the late evening.

I wonder if this means we will get all our fine weather back again ? I doubt it !
10th - 16th June, 2001
20.5mm of rain this week - more than half of it fell during Friday night/early Saturday morning. Quite a lot of cloud earlier in the week, but no rain until Thursday.

The temperature is now quite high now the cold wind has gone - much warmer nights. The longest day coming up this Thursday, so we should be having nice warm evenings.

Conditions are right to encourage potato blight at the moment, as the higher temperature combined with rain result in high humidity.
3rd - 9th June, 2001
Only 6mm of rain this week, lots of sunshine, but still a cold wind. Low temperatures morning and evening won't improve until the wind goes back to the south-west from the north-west - where it is at the moment.

For those following the Garden Trail next Saturday, it's rained only once on 16th June in the last 10 years !
27th May - 2nd June, 2001
No rain this week, but a cold wind at times, so I'm told. As I've been away for a few days I missed the sun.

May this year has been drier but colder on average. It has been the driest May since 1991 when we had only 9mm of rain. This May we've had 35mm, which is still low. May is usually one of our driest months anyway.

If you think the wind is cold here, try Anglesey where I've just been, and where our tent needed double guy-ropes to keep it from blowing away, and the temperature was about 15ºF lower than the warm south-west.
20th - 26th May, 2001
A dry week with lots of warm sunshine at last, and lots of people telling me we could do with a drop of rain !

The trouble is, once the weather changes it can take a long while to change back again, so we had better make the best of it.

We should be safe to put out our half-hardy plants now.
13th - 19th May, 2001
28.5mm of rain this week - 16mm on Thursday when it rained heavily for several hours.

Otherwise it's getting warmer - another week and we should be past the danger of night frosts.
29th April - 5th May, 2001
Well, April's over - 114.5mm of rain and a cold wind much of the time.

Only 3mm of rain this week, but we have that cold wind. The first week of May has nearly always been dry, and this year is no exception. Plenty of sun today - and tomorrow, hopefully. [No ! - Ed]

How long, I wonder before I hear someone say "We could do with a good shower" !
22nd - 28th April, 2001
44mm of rain this week, thanks to the 22mm which fell last Sunday. and the fact that it has rained on 6 days out of the last 7.

I'm glad to see the end of April, not just because of the rain, but also the winds from the north and east which have made it seem much colder than it actually was.

Hopefully, May will be drier and warmer. The average rainfall in May over 10 years is 69mm. The driest year in that time was 1991, with 9mm, and the wettest was last year with 130mm.

It's time to cover all bare soil in the garden with a mulch of some sort to cut moisture loss in anticipation of drier, warmer weather.
15th - 21st April, 2001
An almost dry week, with only 0.5mm of rain, but rather spoiled by the cold wind which we have had for most of the period.

There was frost on four nights, although this soon disappeared in the early morning sunshine.

The ground is drying out well. Farmers and gardeners have been out planting, but the soil is still quite cold.

However, I hear we are threatened with heavy rain again in the coming week. I hope we don't have too much, as we could still have flooding if it's heavy enough.
8th - 14th April, 2001
Only 14.5mm of rain this week, most of it falling last Sunday.

This is the first week for a long time when the amount of water taken up by plants and evaporation exceeded the rainfall. So, for gardeners the soil should be drier to work.

The early part of the week was fairly mild, but Good Friday and Saturday felt very chilly with low temperatures and damp air.

But, as I write this on Sunday morning, the sun is shining - so we hope for a pleasant day.
1st - 7th April, 2001
A wet week again, with five days of rain during the last seven, giving 50.5mm (2") falling on already sodden ground.

This means we've had flooded roads again, and the Langford brook and the river were flooded on Friday morning.

With the children home for the Easter holiday, I'm sure mothers would be pleased to have some better weather, but next week doesn't look too hopeful at the moment !

A small ray of hope - Easter Sunday is 15th April this year, and this date has been dry eight times in the last ten years.
25th - 31st March, 2001
Of only 17.5mm of rain this week, 13mm fell on Tuesday. However, the total for March was 138.5mm as against an average over the past 10 years of 66mm.

Towards the end of the week it became much warmer, a welcome change after the bleak weather we've had. The temperature at times was nudging 60ºF, but the soil is still very cold and wet. We need a few more days of dry, warm weather before we can plant seeds.
18th - 24th March, 2001
A wet week again with rain on 5 days - 44.5mm in all. We have had more rain this March than in the previous 10 years already - with another week to go before the end of the month !

On the up side, it does seem slightly warmer, but the forecast says the wind will swing round to the north-east again, which may bring drier eather, but it will be colder.
11th - 17th March, 2001
Another wet week with 53.5mm of rain. It rained on 6 out of the last 7 days, Monday being the wettest with 16mm.

Tuesday was the only dry day. It was warmer as well, but it's got colder as the week progressed, and the wind has gone round to the north-east again.

Langford Brook was flooded again on Saturday morning, and water is lying in the fields by the river. Not much chance of getting on with any gardening - unless your soil is very well drained.

First day of Spring next Wednesday. I wonder if the weather knows !
4th - 10th March, 2001
23mm of rain fell this week, on 5 days.

Much warmer this week, with higher temperatures during the day, and at night during the latter half of the week.

The wind has gone back to its usual direction - south-west - and it has felt quite Spring-like at times. But March is very changeable and we could still have some more very cold weather.

While watching the weather forecast one night this week, I noticed that parts of New South Wales had 616mm of rain in 3 days. This equals all the rain we have had since the middle of October last year
25th February - 3rd March, 2001
Only 19mm of rain this week, bringing February's total to 88.5mm. Most of this fell in the first 12 days of the month.

The average for February over 10 years is 72mm, so this February's total is slightly above average.

March started dry but very cold: -5º C on Thursday morning, and it stayed below 0º C all day.

March is usually a fairly dry month here. Looking at the previous 10 years, rainfall in March has varied from 25mm up to 65-70mm, only once going over 100mm. So, we can hope for a spell of drier weather.
18th - 24th February, 2001
No measurable rainfall in the past week - a slight dampness in the air once or twice, but that's all.

In fact, it hasn't rained since 12th. The last time we had such a long spell without rain in January/February was 1998, when it didn't rain from 21st January until 21st February. Then we had 11mm, and it continued dry until 1st March.

It has been quite frosty in the mornings, but generally this has thawed fairly quickly as the sun brings a bit of warmth. At times there was a rather cold wind from the north or north-east, but it was a good week particularly for farmers and garedners, as the soil continues to dry out.
11th - 17th February, 2001
Rainfall this week was 25.5mm. Only one spell of rain this week. It started in the early hours of Monday morning, and continued until about 1.30pm.

Although there was only slightly more than an inch of rain it did produce some flooding because of all the rain we have had previously.

The rest of the week has been dry, with 2º or 3º of frost most nights. However, some lovely sunny days and very light winds have been much appreciated by everyone.
4th - 10th February, 2001
Rainfall this week was 25mm. The wettest day was Monday with 10mm.

A very mixed week with the warmest day this year at 12.5º C. However, on other mornings a frost and a very cold wind at times.

At least we are beginning to see the daylight hours lengthen, and the birds seem to think it's nearly Spring - even if we don't !
Week 27th January - 3rd February, 2001
Rainfall this week was 26.5mm.

January rainfall was 96.5mm. The average for January over the last 10 years is 109.5mm, so it was afairly average month. It rained on 13 days.

We measure the rainfall at approx. 8.30am each day, so the amount on the morning of 4th February is written down for 3rd, and so on.

This means rain falling after midnight but before 8.30am is recorded on the 'wrong' date - but none of us wants to stay up until midnight every night, and it averages out overall.

Most people who record rainfall use a similar system. The main thing is to be consistent.
Week 20th - 26th January, 2001
59mm of rain this week. It rained on 5days, but the very cold wind has gone - at least for the moment.

We start February next week, which used to be thought of as the wettest month, but in recent years it has varied from a low of 11mm to a high of 143mm, so we shall see what we get this year !
Week 6th - 13th January, 2001
No rain fell this week. Instead we have had a brisk, cold east or north-east wind. Although this has been rather unpleasant, it has done a lot of good in drying out the ground in our area, which is very important if we are to avoid flooding in February and March.

Because we are relatively low-lying, we rely on rain being absorbed into the soil and filtering through slowly to ditches, streams and rivers. Because the soil had become saturated, even a modest amount of rain has caused run-off flooding on roads and fields.

So the longer it remains dry and windy the better. Each 1" of rain means 4.5 gallons on every square yard.

1st - 6th January 2001
It rained every day - total: 30mm

Overall figures for the year 2000
Rainfall over the year:   1,473mm/approx. 59 inches
Number of days it rained:  

171

Wettest month:   October with 191mm
Wettest day:   2nd April with 32mm