December

Not a very cheerful month, with rain on 19 days and fog on more, giving the darkest gloomiest month I can remember with hardly any sun at all. Some strong winds at times, but not enough to cause any problems. Total rainfall 117.5mm, in spite of the almost continuous cloud cover not that much.
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The total rainfall for 2006 was 1073mm which is about average for our area.
The wettest month was May, and the driest was April. It rained on 168 days which is slightly more than usual. October and November tied for the most wet days, with 21 each, and July had the least with 7.

The year started with cloud and some rain until the 21st of January, then it was frosty through the rest of the month and half of February - very cold weather. The only snow was on 12th March and that didn't last, otherwise spring was fairly normal.

Long fine spells in July and early August before turning wet. A nice mild September again, as in 2005 and it stayed mild through October although wet.

The most notable thing this year was the amount of cloud, day after day, giving us a very gloomy time. Everyone I talk to would like to see the sun a bit more often.

33.5 mm of rain, most of it fell on Friday and Saturday, when we also had some high winds. Christmas day was at least dry so those that wanted got a walk, but not very bright. We had to wait until the 27th to see the sun and that didn't last long as it rained later in the day.

I hope you had a good Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Rain on Sunday and Monday - 8.5mm, followed by frost and fog. We haven't had much fog lately so it came as a bit of a shock to have such widespread coverage.

It used to be much more prevalent before the Clean Air Act. At least this was only caused by freak weather conditions, so we just had to wait for it to disperse, which it did from our area by Saturday.

26mm of rain, 5 wet days - and 2 dry with sunshine and frost. Otherwise much as before.

We had a look at the lakes a couple of days ago, they both look pretty full but there is plenty of room for more.

Only a few more days to the shortest day and then we can look forward to it getting lighter at night. It seems to get dark by mid afternoon at the moment.

Another 28.5mm of rain, but we did have 2 days without this week. That means that altogether there were 24 days with some rain without a break - the longest spell of wet weather on my records. However, it did not produce an exceptionally large total - more 'little and often' - and I see the long range forecast is for more of the same.

The weather always seems to catch up with itself in the end, global warming or not!

Another week of rain every day, 38mm in all. Luckily it has rained more often at night so we had some dry days, but some of the showers have been very heavy. On Monday 27th there was very heavy rain in the morning which was like being caught under a waterfall!

Well, November rainfall was above average with a total of 146mm. Rain fell on 21 days. It was a mild month, with some wind but nothing damaging. All the leaves seem to be off the trees and, in spite of the mild temperatures, winter is here I think.

The average for December is 120mm with a high of 206mm in '99 and a low of 30mm in '01.

December in this area tends to be mild and wet. We occasionally have a few days' frost towards the end of the month after the 25th, and even more rarely a little snow, but usually plenty of rain.

It has rained on the 25th 7 years out of the last 10. So you would do better asking for wellingtons rather than a sleigh for Christmas !

A wet week with rain every day, 70mm in all. Friday was the wettest with 22mm, but the threatened gales came to nothing thank goodness, although we did have a couple of nasty hail showers on Saturday.

I am pleased to say that we have already exceeded the average rainfall for this month and there is still 5 days to go! !

41mm of rain - and on 6 days. I did say we needed more rain and we got it!

Haven't the trees been lovely (those that didn't shed their leaves weeks ago) especially small-leafed maples and, unusually, hawthorn which is not reliable for autumn colour, but really made an effort this year. Sadly by the end of the week they were all falling so by next week the best will be over.

11mm of rain on 3 days; very variable temperatures as well, from bitterly cold to pleasantly warm.

Such changing on a daily basis makes it difficult to plan ahead, but like it or not, we do need more rain. There was not much gain from the rain we had in October as the mild weather meant a lot of it was used up as everything kept growing so well.

Only 2mm of rain this week, giving a total of 113mm for the month, slightly below average but not seriously so. Rain on 21 days was enough for most of us.

October was a gloomy month really this year, a lot of low cloud and mainly drizzle rather than heavy rain, but really mild when the sun did shine.

November has an average of 117mm, with a high of 217mm in 2002 and a low of 65mmin 2001 with only 12 wet days.

Frost was early this year with temperatures below freezing right at the start of the month. We had below zero readings last year - but not until the middle of the month, and over the last 10 years only an occasional odd frosty night during the month. - The weather always surprises me!

Almost a repeat of last week, again rain on 6 days out of 7, adding up to 32mm this time. Overcast much of the time with occasional sunshine.

The amount of cloud cover would suggest much more rain than we are actually having, making it very gloomy again.

Rain on 6 days out of 7 this week, 36mm altogether, with a really nasty storm on Monday 16th - with hail and thunder. Occasional sunshine but on the whole a dark gloomy week.

Only 11mm of rain, and we are still having some lovely days. Mild and sunny although the temperature starts to drop in the late afternoon and it takes a while to warm up in the mornings.

Not long now until the clocks go back and then it will really feel like winter.

32mm of rain, some of it very heavy. On the 1st we had a very heavy downpour which flooded roads etc for a while, as it was raining faster than it could drain away. This always seems to happen at this time of the year as fallen leaves block drains and gullys.

Still fairly warm when the sun shines and a lovely full moon on Saturday night

29.5mm of rain, mostly on Saturday, when we also had thunder during the night and into Sunday morning. So it looks as if the weather is changing. Much cooler towards the end of the week as well.

September had 59mm of rain, falling on 11 days. So once again a below average month, but not as dry as it has sometimes been. Otherwise a pleasant month with no damaging winds and nice and warm most days. We haven't needed the heating on yet and that's a good thing.

October

This is usually a fairly wet month, the average rainfall is 137mm, the lowest was in 1997 with 66mm and the highest was 191mm in 2000, but in 2004 we had 24 days of rain.

It also tends to be a windy month, sometimes with gales, and October usually gives us the first frost. It's usually just the odd night though - we don't get long spells of cold weather on this side of Christmas, which is still a while away (thank goodness)!

10mm of rain, and the dry warm weather continues - with only one more week of September left. This is very similar to 2003 when the fine weather kept on going well into October. Keep watering trees and shrubs!

5.5mm of rain - mainly light drizzle which, although unpleasant, doesn't add up to much.. A lot of low cloud and some early morning mist, also quite chilly early morning and late evening towards the end of the week.

Well, we are now half way through September and it has been dry so far.

2mm of rain on the 3rd, otherwise a dry warm week, both during the day and at night. A bit of cloud about from time to time, but it came to nothing.

Keep on with the watering, especially recently planted trees and shrubs and herbaceous plants, the annuals are coming to an end anyway. Weather like this in September can be the last straw for trees and shrubs which have had a hard time this summer.

Rain on 5 days out of 7 again, but only 19mm in all, giving a monthly total of 82mm. Slightly below average, but it rained on more days than usual - 15 - giving us unsettled weather for the month once we were past the first week.

Although when it was sunny the temperature soon climbed up to the mid 20's, but by the end of the month night temperatures dropped to single figures on several occasions.

Septmber

Average rainfall is 77mm with a high of 182mm in 2000 and a low of 20mm in 2003. 1999 wasn't too good either when it rained on the 15th, and every day until the 3rd of October - 18 wet days in a row.

September is usually lovely, or really awful, there is no half way with this month. Sometimes it is the start of winter, and other years a continuation of summer. So we must wait and see, although the first couple of days don't augur well !

33mm rain on 5 days (21mm on Wednesday 23rd) and again much colder with a real autumn feel, especially in the mornings.

It's hard to believe the temperatures were in the mid 30's only a month ago.

After 3 more dry days we had rain on the next 4 days, giving a total of 36mm, a useful amount at last. Also much cooler, although the sun is still hot and it soon warms up when the clouds clear.

Once again other areas have had much heavier rain than we have, but I think some of them needed it more.

6mm of rain on 3 days - so not much. Although it is a bit cooler our main job is still watering. The wind is very changeable and there has been a lot of cloud about towards the end of the week. So more rain may be on the cards for next week.

21mm on Sunday and Monday, with the rest of the weeek being dry and warm, cloudy at times and rather muggy, especially on Saturday when the sun broke through only in the late afternoon.

July rainfall was 75mm, 0.5mm more than the average over the 10 year period; it rained on 7 days. Otherwise the main feature was the temperature - hot with lots of sunshine and only light winds. It gave us a taste of continental weather which some enjoyed and others hated.

There has been a lot of discussion in the papers &c, as to whether it was the hottest on record or not. As recording has become much more accurate over the last few decades, with modern equipment, it is difficult to make comparisions, and the further you go back the more inaccurate it becomes - but it was certainly the hottest I can remember!

August

The average rainfall for August is 99mm with a high of 179 mm in ' 97 and a low of 15mm in 2003. Although it rained on only 8 days in ' 97 there was a lot of it. Except for 2004 - when it rained on 16 days - the trend seems to be for fewer days but much heavier and longer spells of rain. All our largest amounts of daily rainfall seem to have been in August.

Another dry week until Saturday, when light drizzle during the afternoon and some rain late evening gave us 6mm. Not a lot, but it should freshen things up a bit.

Otherwise another warm week, although temperatures were slowly dropping as the week progressed, so by Saturday, 22ºC was the highest temperature in our garden , where a few days ago it was in the mid 30ºs.

Again no rain, but high temperatures especially on Wednesday, when it was as high as the mid 30º's by early afternoon.

Gardens are really struggling now, and any trees and shrubs planted in the last couple of years should be watered well, as they are particularly vulnerable. They may not look bad and it probably won't be obvious that they have been affected until next spring when they don't come into leaf, or conifers go brown.

No rain at all and high pressure building early in the week and settling. This gave us increasingly higher temperatures as the week progressed, and culminated in 30ºC plus on Saturday. What a shame that the children still have another week at school before they start their summer holidays!

Well, a bit of a change this week, 48mm of rain and much cooler from Wednesday and it has remained unsettled. Happily a dry afternoon for the very well attended Fete although it looked a bit threatening at times. I think it will probably remain unsettled well into next week.

A lovely week, at least from Tuesday onwards, culminating in temperatures over 90ºF on Saturday which is quite unusual for this country. Although we did have a 'flaming June' , the highest temperature so far was on the 1st of July.

June
23mm of rain on Sunday and Monday gave us a total of 47mm for the month, well below the June average, with rain on only 6 days - so a good month for sunshine. I don't expect July to be as good, as average rainfall is 74.5mm, with a high of 119.5 in 2001 and a low of 11 in 1999.

July
In the last 5 years July has been a lot wetter than previously. In 2005 we had rain on 14 days, which seems to be about the average mumber of wet days for this month. So we can expect much less settled weather, with high pressure still dominating.

Only 7mm of rain this week, not enough to be useful. Quite a bit of cloud though, keeping the temperature down and filtering the sun a bit, which is now at its highest as we have just passed the longest day.

Filtered until Saturday when the sun poured down for much of the day giving us the best day of the week. A few people may have been toasted if they were out between 11am and 3pm without good protection !

Yes, we got our thunderstorm, but only 12mm of rain with another 5mm on Tuesday making 17mm in all. All soon gone I'm afraid, certainly by the weekend.

Slightly lower temperatures though, making it a little easier for the plants.

A lovely dry sunny week, although a bit too warm at times for some, as temperatures rose to over 80ºF on some days. No doubt we are heading for a thunderstorm soon, as towards the weekend cloud was building up in the late afternoon.

Only 5mm of rain this week, bringing May's total rainfall to a record-breaking 156.5mm, with rain on 18 days. An unusually cold month, too, for this part of the country.

Plants very reluctant to get going and very poor seed germination are the main complaints I've been hearing - rather than grumbles about the rain, which most people seem to think was needed.

June

An average of 71.5mm of rain, a high of 163mm in 1998 (when it rained for 17 days), and a low of 9mm in '96 which was a very dry year anyway, raining for just 3 days at the end after 26 days of dry weather.

We usually have 10 to 12 days wet in June so hopefully we'll get about the same this year.

71.5mm of rain which fell on all 7 days. This, coupled with 4 days from the previous week, makes 11 straight days of rain. Not what you would expect for May, and it started so well !

On the whole a wet week, with 44mm of rain on 5 days out of the 7. This week's rain takes us over the average for May, and I think its very likely we will have more.

Not as warm as it has been either. The very high winds did quite a lot of damage in our garden, and I'm sure others suffered as well, as all the new growth is very soft still.

34mm of rain, 22mm of which fell on Wednesday evening during a long thunderstorm, with some spectacular lightning flashes. A fairly localised storm though.

There were more rumbles on Thursday and Friday in the late afternoon again, but it came to nothing here. Otherwise a warm week until Saturday when it took a long time to brighten up.

8mm of rain all told- 6mm on the 30th - otherwise lovely warm sunny weather with quite high temperatures; 70ºF+ towards the end of the week, until Saturday when it was a lot colder and rain threatened during the afternoon. We do seem to have our worst weather on Saturdays lately. Next week we are supposed to have rain, we shall see.

April
A dry month with 46.5mm rainfall, only just over half our average, but we did manage some rain on 12 days and were well above our dryest April of 16mm in ' 97.

Plenty of sunshine but a lot more cloud cover than the total suggests, also still a very cold wind at times which meant it was only nice when the sun was shining. If you were in the shade a coat or sweater was needed. The wind is still fluctuating a lot and has not settled to its usual west or south/west and that does make a big difference to the temperature.

Average rainfall for May is 77mm with a high of 130mm in 2000 and a low of 36mm in 2001. It is noticeable how often the highest rainfall occurs in 2000, an exeptionally wet year when 8 of the 12 months was over 100mm. Usually May is one of the better months with light winds and plenty of sunshine. Just the odd 2 or 3 wet days with 4 or 5 days in between.

Only 2.5mm of rain this week, but with a bank holiday coming up, possibly some at the weekend. A really nice week with plenty of sun and light winds. Tulips and daffodils out together, all trying to catch up. It seems winds are from the southwest bringing warmer, moister air and heavy dews at night.

Not quite so nice on Easter Sunday as it was on Saturday, but I think Spring is here at last.

Only 12mm of rain this week, with day and night-time temperatures consistently much higher than of late, and enough cloud cover to ensure no danger of frosts.

Still too early to put out half-hardy bedding plants unless you've got the covers ready; the combination of clear skies and light winds could still produce frost well into May.

Well, another rather cold week until Friday afternoon when the sun shone and temperatures shot up well into double figures.

20mm of rain, mainly on Tuesday, when we had 13mm. Another fine day on Saturday, breezy and a bit cold but very pleasant for Easter gardeners.

Thinking of Easter, has anyone else seen the three crosses on Brent Knoll this year?- - - (a very visual reminder I thought.)

An almost dry week - a small amount of rain on Friday and Saturday but not as warm as it was the previous week. Not as cold as the north of England, though, where I have been staying for a few days. Temperatures there were barely above freezing, with an icy wind and sleet and snow showers!

So we look forward now towards Easter weekend, with no real likelihood of it getting much warmer.

Well, what a change, the wind coming from the S/W and rain every day with the temperature reaching 15ºC on Friday. 50.5mm of rain in all, more than half of the total month's rainfall in the last week, and it really feels springlike at last.

March
March really came in like a lion and out like a lamb this year. A much colder March than we have had for a long while. Bitter winds from the north and east, frost. snow on the 12th, and finishing with a relatively mild wet week. 89.5mm of rain in all, slightly above average mainly thanks to the 25mm on the 30th, it rained altogether on 13 days.

Time now to add up our winter rain, i.e.October '05 - March '06 which is an important time for storing water. Surprisingly, after all the talk of drought, against an average over the last 14 years of 633mm, - our total of 673mm looks quite good. The lowest overall was 457mm in '96/'97 and the highest was 849mm in '00/'01 - it's quite astonishing when you look at the difference!

April
Average rainfall 93.5mm with a low of 16mm in '97 and a high of 183mm in 2000. '97,'02 and '03 had long dry spells; otherwise it seems to be a mixture of a few dry days followed by a few wet ones, with showers rather than prolonged rain and sun in between.

Still dry and cold, only 9mm of rain on Thursday and Friday. The wind remaining very cold, but slightly warmer towards the end of the week.

Snow fell on the 12th in the morning but it was soon gone, much to the children's disappointment. This was followed by 4mm of rain on Monday morning, but otherwise it's been a dry, very cold week with an Easterly wind. Certainly the coldest March for quite a while, no early spring this year. The soil is still very cold so I won't be planting any seeds yet!

29mm of rain, mainly on Tuesday and Wednesday; not very warm either, especially towards the end of the week.

On Saturday it was really cold when the wind swung round to the East again, bringing very cold weather and the threat of snow, especially to the North.

3mm of water from melted snow flurries and another really cold week, with the temperature down to 6.8ºC - the lowest this year.

The worst morning was Wednesday, when road conditions were very bad. There were 4 vehicles involved in accidents on the slope leading to Beam bridge. No-one hurt as far as I know, but damage to the vehicles and a telegraph pole. Also I heard that one of the school coaches had a scrape near Mill Lane.

Some lovely sunshine through the week though; out of the wind it almost felt like spring, particularly on Saturday.

February

In spite of all the frosts we still managed a respectable 93mm of rain which is slightly above average for us, but the main thing this year was the East and Northeast wind for most of the month which is unusual as our prevailing wind is usually from the Southwest - which is where it's coming from now so it should get warmer and wetter.

Outlook for March

The average rainfall for March over the last ten years is 69.5mm with a high of 138.5mm in 2001, and a low of 25mm in 1997(when it only rained on 5 days).

Usually, March brings a bit of eveything, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter all in one month. In 2004 our lowest temperature of the year was in March, and we often have a couple of really warm sunny days. What I want is some rain interspersed with sunny days so that I can get on with gardening.

34mm of rain and a very cold week; the wind continues to come from the Northeast giving us a hard time. We are not used to such a long spell of weather from this direction, and I understand snow is threatened later next week, so it could get worse. We have already had a few flurries of snow but luckily it didn't stay.

The last really wet week was nearly a month ago, but we had 49mm of rain last week on 6 days out of 7. Tuesday and thursday were the wettest with hailstones on Thursday.

The wind was very cold towards the end of the week when it went back to the East. So its still feeling very chilly. Although the snowdrops and some early crocus are out, I don't think we;re going to get an early spring this year.

Once again a mainly dry week, with only 7mm of rain. A lot more frost - down to -6ºC in our garden. But warmer days with more sunshine, so at times, out of the wind, it felt quite springlike!

The wind has now gone back to the SW so we may be getting some milder, damper weather.

Another dry week, much as the week before, but colder during the day. Again the East wind meant very low daytime temperatures, especially Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, when the thermometer was only just above freezing at mid-day. Slightly better on Saturday

January: total rainfall 48mm so well below average. No rain after the 21st, but plenty of frosty nights and cold days. Although we had no rain, there has been a lot of cloud, so fairly bleak, gloomy and cold during the day.

Outlook for February: The average rainfall is 81mm with a low of 11mm in '98 and a high of 155mm in 2002. This used to be thought of as a wet month but latterly it has been frost rather than rain.

In 2003,2004 and 2005 there was a spell of frost ranging from 10 days in 2003, to 20 days last year, when we had minus temperatures from 12th of February into March.

A full week of frosty nights and mainly bright days with some lovely sunshine at times. The price we pay for this is a bitterly cold east wind, but in the sun and out of the wind it was lovely.

Coldest night time temperature was - 5.4ºC but it's been - 2º or - 3º all week.

Not very nice this week, a lot of cloud and a little rain every day, but only16mm all together.

Better on Saturday though, if you kept out of the wind - especially in the afternoon. Chew Valley lake is now 74% full, better than last year at this time when it was 73% !

First, I must remind everyone what a lovely day we had on Wednesday, a rare treat to see the sun. 30mm of rain this week, over half of that on Tuesday, when it rained for most of the day.

Has everyone noticed how much lighter it is now in the late afternoon, especially when the clouds lift.

In spite of 2mm of rain on the 1st, it's been a fairly dry week with only 9mm in all. Very overcast and dark, with low cloud, has meant it never seemed to get properly light and we were in twilight by 3.30pm. I would much prefer brighter days even if it meant colder weather.