Well it was dry on Christmas day this year, although overcast, but we did have more rain this week 33mm mainly on Friday when it seemed to rain all day. Also the hardest frost this winter so far -6.7ºC on Thursday night.

December rainfall total is 153mm, good really. The last 3 months have given us reasonable amounts of rain and I hope the next 3 do the same.

2005
Another year over, the time seems to fly by.

Well after all the talk about water shortages, this year is only slightly below average rainfall, with a total of 1066.5mm for the year.The wettest month was October and the driest was February. The month with the most wet days was, again, October with 16, and the least was March with 7.

There was a fairly cold start to the year with frosts from 12th February until early March, and then a spell of dry weather for a couple of weeks. Otherwise not a bad spring and early summer.

A nice long spell of fine, warm weather in July and August, and a very mild autumn until mid October. It then rained until mid November, when, unusually, there was a long spell of frosty nights.

No damaging gales this year - just a bit blustery at times. What was unusual was that there was a lot more wind from the North and East especially in the Autumn. So a very average sort of year.

January's average is 89mm of rain, with a high of 136mm and a low of 12mm. At this time of the year low rainfall usually means more frost, but occasionally January can be very mild, with much colder weather in February. We will have to wait and see.

4mm of rain again this week - very low rainfall in a nothing sort of week weatherwise.. Really not much rain or sun or frost or wind, just dark and dreary. At least we are past the shortest day now so it can only get better!

Only 5mm of rain but more frost. It's certainly a chilly winter, but the chances of snow for the 25th are not good. In the past 15 years it has rained 10 times on the 25th but there has been no snow.

The wettest was in 1998 with 31mm. The nearest we got to snow was in 2000 when it snowed on the 27th, 28th and 29th, followed by more rain (it was a wet year).
All I'm hoping for is a dry day for a nice walk.

Not much rain this week 23mm in all, and quite chilly at times when the wind went round to the East. Otherwise typical December weather - damp and cloudy until Saturday, when we had some welcome sunshine.

99.5mm of rain - December certainly started off with a splash ! - nearly a month's rainfall in the first 3 days. The average for December is 116mm with a high of 206mm in 1999 and a low of 30mm in 2001 when it rained on only 4 days.

November was most notable for the number of nights we had a frost - 15 in all - very high for November, especially in our area. We also had 112.5mm of rain during the month, on 16 days so an interesting month weatherwise.

Yes, it has continued - except for a couple of frost free mornings and a couple of mm of rain - it's much as before. The wind keeps swinging back to the north or east, so it's been very cold, but the promised snow never materialised - perhaps next week!

Frost every night, no rain and mainly sunny days - very nice if you managed to keep out of the cold wind.

Although frost in November is fairly common, in the SouthWest we don't usually have a long spell of frosty weather until after Christmas. However, this looks like continuing well into next week.

Rain every day this week giving us a total of 57mm, and much lower temperatures. Getting very close to our first frost of the winter.

66mm of rain this week. The wind has been very changeable with the strongest gusts coming from the South which is unusual, but not bad enough to cause any damage. It looks likely that it will continue showery well into next week.

October

Well, October has certainly brought a change, with rain on 18 days giving a total of 178mm - well above average. Also, it's been the first month this year with more than 100mm, but it was badly needed so we should not complain. and I hope the next couple of months do as well.

The average for November is 118mm with a high of 217.5mm in 2002 when it rained on 24 days and a low of 65mm in 2001 when it rained on 12 days. I hope its more like 2002 as we still need a lot more rain to replenish the reserves.

45.5mm - so another good week rainwise, and the sun is still warm when it does shine.

The wind came from the South for several days this week which helped to keep the temperature up, but I have now emptied the summer tubs and got all the plants I want to keep under cover, as things could change very quickly.

At the moment there is too much cloud cover for temperatures to drop towards freezing just yet!

That's more like it, rain on 6 days out of seven - 67mm in all, and the likelihood of more in the coming weeks.

Clocks go back next weekend giving us lighter mornings for a while, but after 3 or 4 weeks it won't be noticeable and we'll have to wait for early spring for light mornings again.

41mm of rain on 4 days, a reasonable amount - but we are half way through the month and the rain we are getting so far is not even going to match the average. We really need it to be well above if we are to avoid shortages in the future.

A lovely day on Saturday, although the easterly wind was quite chilly.

7mm of rain - all on Saturday. Otherwise a dry week, although very overcast, at times almost drizzling on a couple of days. Still mild during the day, but dropping quite low (4ºC or 5ºC) at night.

When I said last week, that it would turn wet and cold sooner or later, I didn't expect it quite so soon!

Rain on 6 days this week - 38.5mm in all and a noticeable drop in temperature.
Strong wind also towards the end of the week and hail on Saturday afternoon.

Total rainfall in September was 74mm, and nearly half of this fell in the last week.
We had rain on 12 days throughout the month.

October average is 126mm as this is one of our wet months and the start of the 6 month period when rainfall should outstrip our water use, and we start to build up reserves for next year.

Only 13mm of rain this week, so still watering tubs & pots. It's going to come as a nasty shock when the weather does turn nasty and cold, as it surely will sooner or later!

19mm of rain on 3 days - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Also a couple of very chilly days with the wind from the North, temperatures down to 2ºC early on Wednesday morning but no frost so far.

It would be unusual for us to have a frost before mid-October and we don't usually have a really cold spell before late December.

6mm of rain this week with the weather gradually becoming more unsettled as the week progressed. Some rumbles of thunder, but once again we have missed both the storms and the heavy rain some parts of the country have experienced

Well, we had a not very impressive 4mm of rain this week during the thunderstorm on Wednesday. Other places had a lot more than us, according to those who were out and about in the area.

Otherwise much as before, one chilly night when temperatures went down to 6ºC, the daytime temperature touching 30ºC a couple of times.

Total rain for August was 58.5mm exactly the same as July (that doesn't happen very often- the last time was in November/December 1998) so well below the average for August.

The average for September is 85mm, but the last 3 years we have had low rainfall. The lowest over the last 10 years was 20.5 in 2003 and the highest 182mm in 2000 when it rained for 18 days and was very bleak and cold. Hopefully we will have a better month this year.

Certainly a change, some rain on 5 days out of seven this week. Mainly showers, except Wednesday when it rained for several hours giving us a total this week of 33.5mm.

Getting brighter towards the end of the week so we may be lucky and have a fairly dry and sunny bank holiday.

Noticeably cooler now in the evenings as we move towards September and a very heavy dew at night. Bristol Water's reservoirs are at 56% now, so enough water in our area, but we still need to be careful.

Once again only a little rain, 5mm on one day, otherwise dry and warm. Getting a bit boring really, difficult to find anything to say, bad weather is so much more interesting.

Priddy sheep fair on Wednesday, and when I lived at Charterhouse we always said - "Rain after Priddy fair was the first rain of winter" ! and I think a change is coming.

75.5mm of rain took us over the average for the month. In fact, taken overall, June was a good month for us all. Some really nice days and enough rain to keep things growing, a bit of thunder to liven things up, but nothing in excess.

The July rainfall average is 59.5 with a low of 11mm in 1999 when it only rained for 3 days, to a high of 119.5 in 2001 when it rained on 14 days including 2 days of over 25mm.

June average rainfall is 64mm with a high of 163mm in 1998 and a low of 4mm in 1995 - our dry summer!

The average for May is 77mm with a high of 130mm and a low of 35mm. In May we need 75 - 85mm of rain spread through the month to keep our plants happy, so use plenty of mulch to keep in as much moisture as possible in the soil and try not to let things wilt !

April rainfall: the highest was in 2000 when we had 183mm on 17 days, compared to 16mm on 3 days in 1997.

February was a fairly dry month with 58mm, well below average and again, following 2004, a long, cold spell with frost at night and very cold days.

Average rainfall for March is 69mm with a high of 138.5 in 2001 and a low of 25 in 1997. March often starts cold as it has again this year followed by a wet spell mid month, but it usually ends with a week or so of dry weather and frost is rare by the end of the month.

2004

Total rain for the year 1153.5mm, slightly above average for the last 10 years.

Not particularly memorable weatherise, certainly the summer could have been better and we waited in vain for a nice spell in the Autumn but after a fairly wet August, we had a wet September and October. So autumn colour was not very good compared with 2003.

17 nights with temperatures below freezing in February-March meant we had a really cold spell, but it was dry with a little snow on the 26th .No really severe weather of any sort this year. The wettest day was the 7th July with 32mm. The longest dry spell was in February and the longest spell of daily rain was in October when it rained on 12 consecutive days.

So here we are again with another year of weather to look forward to, and whatever we get, we will never all be happy with it. It will always be too dry, too wet, too hot, too cold, too windy or too still for someone, but don’t forget, although it may be getting lighter we always have our coldest weather in January/February so be ready for it. [You have been warned ! - Ed]