This year December was our wettest month of the year in direct contrast to 2016 when December was the driest month of the year This gives us a total rainfall for the year of 1021mm, making 2017 just below the middle of the table of rainfall going back to 1990, so fairly average which also gives us a picture of the year.

There were no real extreme weather events this year we have had gales but not causing the sort of damage other parts of Britain suffered, we have had no serious flooding here again other areas suffered terrible damage, sometimes I think we are very lucky with the weather in North Somerset at least in our bit.

I have already said that December was our wettest month with 134mm rain fell on 16 days and we had a couple of days wet snow which soon melted. Our driest month was April with only 11.5mm of rain and this month also gave us our longest dry spell 21 days. What happened to our April showers I don't know, they were sadly missed by some especially those trying to germinate their spring vegetables crops and local farmers .The wettest 24 hour period was in December but it was only 30mm so nothing exceptional there either.

So 2017 can go down as an ordinary year as far as the weather is concerned like tens of thousands of others and I hope we have many others like it.

24th - 30th December

64 mm of rain for the last week of the year, which was mainly 2 days heavy rain on the 26th and the 27th - which flooded local fields for a while - but drained away by the end of the day .

There was some wet snow during the night of the 27th, but it had nearly all melted by the morning - so, if you are a late riser, you may have missed it.

17 mm of rain spread over 5 days, so mostly small amounts and, overnight, so not such a nuisance. Again, very variable temperatures from a heavy frost at the start of the week: -2.4°C, to a high of 10.6°C at the weeked.

Once again, a rather a mixed bag as far as the weather was concerned. Added to the usual mix was some snow just for a change - not that we had quite as much as some other parts of the country - and, thankfully, it didn't last very long either.

The rain and melted snow added up to 19mm, and the lowest overnight temperature was -4.3°C. Not long now until the shortest day, Christmas, New Year, and, before we know it, Spring will be here again.

A very varied week as far as the weather is concerned. We had some rain on 4 days, the most on late Saturday through to early Sunday - 20mm - giving us a total of 30mm for the week. We also had some very cold days and very strong winds, but there were a couple of mild days especially Wednesday the 6th.

Big changes coming next week - much colder and snow. Whether we will get much snow, I don't know, but we will probably get the frost. I have replaced the broken thermometer so will be able to tell how cold it gets.

Only 11 mm of rain this week, so once again a rather mixed bag weatherwise, with some cloud and rain, but a couple of quite hard frosts which took a while to clear. It also reminded us what we have to look forward to in the new year when we usually have our real wintry weather.

November has been drier than usual this year with only 77mm of rain, so below average again, but it has been slightly warmer.

December, in spite of all the cards about at the moment depicting romantic winter scenes sleighs, snowmen, outdoor skating, the only thing I expect to see is the robin who has taken up residence by our back door.

Rainfall averages for December over 10 years is 104mm and over 20 years 115 mm the wettest December was 1999 with 206.5 mm when it rained on 21 days and the driest was last year with 15 mm, which it managed to spread over 9 days.

The chances of a dry Christmas day are 50/50 .the chance of 3 days dry is 25% so I hope this is a lucky year.

Very similar weather to last week, though slightly more rain - 21mm -and slightly colder. The shorter days are very noticeable now: if it's cloudy it seems to be getting darker after lunch. Not long now to the 21st, and after Christmas we'll gradually see a difference in the day length, but we usually have our worst winter weather in January and February.

In spite of it raining on 4 days last week, we only had 6.5mm , but we also had fog and low cloud and a couple of frosts in the early morning giving us frozen windscreens - so back to the usual winter routine.

We have been very lucky with the weather so far this year and I hope it continues to be kind to us. I have heard that we will have very cold weather, with snow to start the New Year possible. I suppose we hardly ever have a long spell of really wintry weather until Christmas is over.

The weather has been more changeable than usual this week. We have had frost, rain, wind, and sun; the temperature has gone between -2c°C and 16°C in our garden - it certainly keeps us on our toes. We have had 23.5mm of rain over 4 days, but we are still getting plenty of sunshine, considering we are in November - a month not noted for sunny days.

The end of another month; time seems to be flying by. October was fairly dry this year with just one spell of rain - 17th to 25th - and some odd showers, giving us a total of 69 mm for the month. This was well below the average for October, so we were able to get out enjoy the sunshine and the lovely Autumn colours.

The average rainfall for November is, 139 mm over the last 10 years, and over the last 20 years was 128mm. The wettest November was 2012 with 259mm on 16 days, but November 2009 - slightly less rain 239mm - but it rained on 27 days. much worse I think. The driest November 2001 with 65mm and it rained only on 12 days.

We had another look at Chew valley on Sunday and the visible road stretches now from shore to shore, running parallel with the road. There are more birds than usual, including some we rarely see so close to the road - Egrets and a couple of Cormorants when I was there.

Very little rain this week - mild, damp and misty for most of the week until Friday, when the weather changed completely and we had a lovely sunny day although it was much colder. Saturday was very similar - again much cooler, but no more low cloud and drizzle, but some nice sunny spelling a good start to the weekend. Did everyone remember to put their clocks back before they went to bed ?!

Quite a change ..... last week started very overcast and we had drizzle at times. The wind has been a bit of a problem as well. We had rain on 5 days this week giving us a total of 44 mm, the wettest day was Thursday, when it rained very heavily mid-morning, giving us a really good soaking with 28mm.

On Friday we had very strong winds here but I believe it was a lot worse in other parts of the country - I haven’t heard of any local damage.

Next Sunday is the end of British Summer time, Although I always alter my clocks on Saturday night, remembering it's back this time. Then I wait eagerly for the shortest day - 21st December - and, by the time Christmas is over (if you still keep the 12 days) it will be noticeably lighter in the mornings, and Spring will be here before you know it .

A dry week again with only 7 mm of rain and exceptionally warm for October as well. We have had a dry spell at this time of the year before, but I don't think it has been as warm as it has been this year. According to the longer range forecast we are going
to get the remains of hurricane Ophelia on Monday or Tuesday which will mean high winds, at least for some of us. I think it will be localised so some will suffer more than others.

29mm of rain over 5 days, but it was mainly showers, except on the 29th when we had 11 mm, this brings the total for September up to 125 mm which is well above the monthly average. Not the best September we’ve had, but not the worst either, the rain being mainly showers - only on 3 days was the rainfall above 10mm, but it did mean we had a lot of cloud.

Hopefully October will be like last year - dry and sunny. The average rain fall for this month is, over 10 years 110mm, and over 20 years, 120mm. The driest October was last year, with only 49 mm, and the wettest was 2013 with 196.5mm - and it rained on 25 days.

Only 15mm of rain, spread over 4 days, and, although we've had some quite cold mornings - down as low as 5°C twice - we're still enjoying fairly good weather for the midddle of September. Saturday was 21°C by early afternoon, and we had sunshine all day.

I went to Chew Valley at the weekend. The water level seems low - no doubt reflecting the dry weather we've been having - and the road is visible again. Plenty of birds enjoying digging about in the mud, including some Egrets.

Quite a wet week for us, with some rain on 6 days, varying from 2 mm on M10th - 16th Septemberonday night to the 28 mm we had on Saturday, thus giving us a total of 64 mm, more than we have had for a while. Perhaps we will now have a spell of dry sunny weather as we are already halfway through the month, and we usually have a spell of good weather sometime this month.

Only 15 mm of rain this week, but a lot of cloud about and some drizzle at times, which doesn't amount to much, I suppose. Other areas are getting more rain than we are, but I would like a bit more sun. The weather will have to change quite a bit if we are to have good Autumn colour - we need a little rain, plenty of sunshine, and really cold nights.

I have noticed that the mornings are much cooler now, but there is still a way to go. The coldest morning so far has been 7°C.

What a super weekend we had for the last holiday before the 25th December. Here are the temperatures: Sunday 22.7°C
Monday 23.4°C, Tuesday 22.5°C. Then things cooled a bit with much lower temperatures, especially at night.

The total rainfall for August was 85.5 mm, again slightly below average. It will be interesting to see if the rain levels out by the end of the year if it does we will have a wet Autumn.

Average rain in September is: Over 10 years 78 mm and over 20 years 79 mm. The driest September was 2014 when it rained on only 6 days 9.5 mm, and the wettest was 2000 when it rained on18 days 182 mm. September can be a really good month weather-wise and is sometimes better than the summer months.

The lovely Autumn colours are dependent on sunny days and cold nights - and little rain - just what we want really, so we must all hope for the right weather as usual.

Rain on 4 days this week, but as they were only showers and they only added up to 11 mm in total, we could do with a bit more if we want a break from the watering. The trouble is that when it does finally rain - as it surely will - it may forget to stop. I see the forecast is for good weather right through the weekend, with rain to come during the coming week. With September starting next Friday, Autumn is on its way.

26 mm of rain, spread over 5 days out of 7 - so not very much. The outlook is for similar weather in the coming week, and slightly cooler temperatures, so the garden should not suffer too much. Temperature at night has been noticeable cooler - down to single figures on 3 nights. It made me think of Autumn, especially when we’ve had a cloudy evening and it has got dark so early.

18.5 mm of rain this week - not enough to avoid watering I”m afraid. The showers we have been getting, do dampen the ground and wash the dust off leaves, &c, but they are not enough to really get down into the root zone. This, after our dry weather through the Spring and Summer, is very dry, and the deeper I dig, the dryer the soil is. I think it's going to take the winter rainfall before the water table gets back to what we think of as normal.

We had below average rain in 2016, and we are below average this year - 5 months out of 7 - so there is quite a lot of catching up to do. The good news is, we’ve had spells like this before, and it's very localised. Other areas of the country seem to have had the usual amounts of rain, so I’m sure it will sort itself out.

33 mm of rain to end July and start August, making the total for July 132 mm, the highest monthly rain fall this year so far and well above average - and all in the last 2 weeks of the month.

On to August a month that nearly always turns out to be wetter than we expect it to be, the average over 10 years is 116 mm and over 20 years 105 mm. The wettest August was in 1997 with 179mm, but it only rained on 8 days - 25mm, 6mm, 30mm, 8mm, 36mm, 35mm, 5mm, 34mm. The driest was 2003 when it rained on 6 days giving us 15mm of rain.

I always think August is a bit disappointing, it never seems as hot and sunny as childhood memories of it are when the summer holidays seemed to last for ever and it never rained - those were the days.

Another week with rain on 5 days out of 7, giving us a total of 47.5 mm. July has turned out to be a month in two halves; we started the month dry and very warm and ended much cooler and almost daily rain. The chance of us having a good August don't look too promising at the moment. The long range forecast doesn't look very good either - hopefully it will improve by next week.

No need to water the garden this week, with rain on 5 days out of 7 giving us a total for the week of 59.5 mm. This is more rain than we had in the whole of last month.

But I hope we still have some more good weather to come as the school holidays have just started. Many parents and grand-parents will be looking to entertain their children during the next few weeks, and I know from experience that is much easier if the weather is good. I still have memories of picnic lunches eaten in the car as the rain hammered on the car roof, or us all sitting under the pier at Aberystwyth trying to eat in a howling gale with sand blowing everywhere - including our lunch. So I know more sunshine will make life easier for everyone.

Rain early in the week looked as if we were going to get a change in the weather, but, after 23mm, it stopped and that was all the rain we had all week, except for a little light drizzle. As it has been so dry the rain soon disappeared very quickly and it was back to watering again, but at least the water butts were topped up a bit.

No rain on the 15th we should be safe from St Swithin's day's curse, but the odd shower from time to time would be a great .

Apart from some very light drizzle on the 3rd there has been no measurable rain here this week.

We have had plenty of sunshine with temperatures getting up towards 30°C, but not as hot as the 21st of June - I think that was exceptional. It will be a while before it is that hot again here.

Although it is only a couple of weeks since we passed the longest day, the difference in the morning is already noticeable, if you are an early riser. A couple of people have mentioned it to me. Sunrise on the 15th July is at 5.01 BST .

July 15th is St Swithin’s day when, according to Folk Lore, if it rains on this day, it will rain for the next 40 days. I have not known this happen, but in 2009, it rained on the following 18 days, so we should hope for a dry day, even though we need some rain for the garden. It pays to be careful what we wish for.

16.5 mm this week makes the total rainfall for June 49 mm which is well below the average for the month. This is the fifth month we have had below the monthly average rainfall this year. We had to dig a deep hole in our garden recently and the deeper we went
the drier the soil was, right down a metre deep the subsoil was like dry sand. This has also been one of the warmest months we had for some years, and I wonder if July will follow the same pattern, we must wait and see.

The July averages are, rainfall over 10 years is 112 mm and over 20 years is 95 mm. The wettest July was 218 mm in 2007 when it rained on 25 days and the driest was in 1999 when it only rained on 3 days.

July is the month when we are likely to have thunder storms and hailstones etc, but of course only if we have plenty of sunshine and high temperatures. If it's cold and wet, as it was in 2007, we won't have to worry.

This was almost another dry week - only a couple of slight showers gave us 2.5mm. The temperature remained high through until Wednesday (the longest day), over 30°C for most of the day. Thursday was cooler and by Friday it was all over and we were back to a our usual summer weather, but at least I hope we all enjoyed it , and that we still have some fine, sunny weather to come.

A dry week and some of the warmest weather we’ve had for a long while. Towards the weekend the temperature was nudging 30°C and it seems set to continue into next week. The wind which we had last week seems to have gone as well.

The downside of all this good weather is that we are back to the watering, and with high temperatures everything is drying out very quickly, try to keep the soil covered in pots and tubs if you can and spare a bucket of water for any shrubs or young trees which you have planted in the last couple years - which won't have developed a good root system yet.

And enjoy it while it lasts. It's the longest day next Wednesday, although you won't notice the shortening days for couple of weeks or so.

29mm of rain in the last week, and rather more wind than we wanted at this time of the year. Our roses are barely open than the petals are on the ground and plants that would not normally need any support are horizontal, which is giving the slugs and snails even more chance to eat them. This seems to be a losing battle but .I’m sure it will settle down soon.

With a total of 105.5 mm May was the wettest month we”ve had since November 2016. It rained on 13 days, so we still had quite a bit of sunshine as well.

Now we are into June (which always gives me a slight feeling of panic - nearly half the year gone and very little achieved as usual).
Average rainfall over 10 years is 85 mm and over 20 years 84 mm. The wettest June was in 2012, with 218 mm; it rained on 22 days. The driest was 2010 with 21.5 mm and it rained on 5 days.

As it has been fairly dry this year so far, I am hopeful of more good weather.

15mm, mainly in the early hours of Saturday, when we had the most spectacular display of lightning that I have seen in England
(I saw a similar display while camping in Aberaeron, Pembrokeshire, some years ago). Otherwise hot and sunny with temperatures over 30°C.

With 48.5mm of rain, we can take a break from watering our tubs and baskets for now!

This week started, as the previous week, dry with sunny intervals, and a rather cold North East wind, but a gradual change meant that by Thursday we had some showers. The change continued through the rest of the week giving us a total rainfall of 15.5 mm.

The temperature varied through the week from a low of 5°C on Tuesday morning up to a high of 19°C towards the weekend. The wind is now coming from an Westerly direction so I expect more rain.

9.5 mm of rain this week bringing the total for April 11.5 mm - so this is the driest April I have recorded so far.

As we are now in May here are the averages for this month: over 10 years 75 mm and over 20 years 80 mm. The wettest May was 2006 with 156 mm of rain, and it rained on 18 days. The driest was 2001 with 36 mm, when it rained on only 8 days.

April has been memorable not only for its lack of rain but also the very cold winds we have had for the whole of the month. It's why we have had so little rain, as when the weather comes from the North it is usually dry - just as when we get the wind from the West it is usually wet and mild. I do hope we get a change soon, as we really could do with some rain, otherwise we could suffer later in the year.

3.5 mm of rain in the last week, and plenty of sunshine, although still with a cold wind. It's where the weather is coming from, and it seems to be stuck.

With another holiday weekend coming up, the national forecast is for more rain, and colder, so the usual holiday weather then.
In May 2012 - the last Fair Week - it rained 5 days out of 7. So it could be worse.

Another dry week. I am a bit worried about the lack of rain. We have just had the driest winter I have recorded since I started keeping weather records here in 1990. We have had 415 mm of rain in the last six months. This is less than any previous winter.
I count a winter for rainfall measurements as being the last 3 months of the year and the first 3 months of the following year. This gives me, as a gardener, a good idea of what the coming summer will be like, how much additional water I will need etc.

This means the last 2 winters were slightly below average as well, so ground water is low, and if this dry weather continues, we will see some of our larger shrubs and small trees beginning to show signs of water shortage - and it is much more difficult to keep them watered if there are any restrictions on the use of water.

Of course this applies to the village, but I think the trend is much more widespread, and will affect a much wider area - even countrywide ?

A dry week with fairly good temperature for the time of the year - up towards 20°C a couple of times - but still cold at night, as low as 2°C just before sunrise, but soon getting warmer in the early sunshine. The wind still kept the temperature down sometimes.

Time to go up over Wrington Hill to see the bluebells, a stunning sight as ever, a yearly treat for us all. It reminds me how lucky we are.

The only rain this week was on the 3rd - and that was just 1.5 mm - otherwise the weather was much as before, plenty of sunshine but the wind still causing a bit of a problem, unless you can find a sheltered spot.

Perhaps we are expecting it to be warmer than it usually is in early April. All this sunshine is giving us a false impression that it's summer. Its' still only early April, we must have patience.

26th March - 1st April

16.5 mm of rain in the last week of March, giving us a total for the month of 95.5, which is slightly above the average for March. We only had 1 prolonged spell of rain, otherwise a lot of showers, which we usually think of as April weather. The temperature was very variable, decided by how strong the wind was and the direction it was coming from.

The weather for April can also be very variable,.so here are the averages: the average rain over the last 10 years was 63 mm and over the last 20 years 77 mm; the wettest April was in 2012 with rain on 24 days - 218.5 - that started a long spell of above average rainfall, which went on right through the year, giving us one of the wettest years we have had.

The driest April was 2011 (the year before) when we had rain on 3 days just 15 mm in total. Now we have gone to summer time, all the early risers are getting up in the dark again - not for long I hope!.

Quite a change this week with 39 mm of rain, and we had to wait until Friday for a dry day - when we had some sunshine by the afternoon and Saturday was a lovely Spring day.

Most of the rain we had this week was through Wednesday night into Thursday morning - 28 mm - causing the field by the river to turn into a lake and the river to just top its bank. This was the first time this has happened for months but it was soon gone, so no harm done.

We had even less rain this week, only 6 mm and not very warm. The temperature went down to 2°C on a couple of mornings,and we got to Wednesday before we had much sunshine. Thursday was dry but the very cold

wind from the North East did not encourage loitering outside , much the same on Friday with a couple of light showers, and no better on Saturday as the wind got much stronger and again the odd shower.

Once again a fairly dry week - plenty of clouds but only 17 mm of rain altogether, which was spread over 5 days. We had to wait until Thursday until we had a warmer day, as earlier in the week the temperature was still low in the mornings: 1.4°C on Monday and 1.6°C on Tuesday. By Thursday the temperature managed to climb to double figures, and the rest of the week was fairly good as well.

We had 27 mm of rain in the past week, spread over 6 days. The total for February was 51 mm, so another below average month, which leads me to think we will have a catch up with the rain at some point. I hope it picks a convenient time.

The average rainfall for March is, over 10 years 68 mm, and over 20 is 70 mm. The wettest March so far was 2008 with 154 mm and it rained on 16 days including one day with 51 mm. The driest March was 1997 with only 25 mm.

The wind is also a problem at this time of the year but it is a while since we had severe gales in March. The old rhyme March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers never seems to be right these days.

Another mainly dry week with only 8 mm of rain. This was mostly drizzle so that, in spite of it being so dry, once again we had a lot of very low cloud.

The promised Doris arrived finally, but but not a lot of damage around our area - the odd tree and some branches and a lot twigs and rubbish on the roads, but I dont think that any property was damaged or that there were any accidents locally, at least I haven't heard of any.

We have now had 3 dry months in succession at a time of the year when we usually have plenty of rain - sometimes more than we need or want. This probably means that we will have wet a spell when it is least needed or wanted.

Having started cold and windy it got warmer as we went through the week ending milder than usual for mid-February . Only 5 mm of rain, so still drier than usual as well. February has not always been so obliging weather wise. In 1962 a windstorm decimated Sheffield, which was still repairing bomb damage, with winds over 80 miles an hour. 100,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

On the 16 Feb 1929, 6 feet of snow fell on the south east fringes of Dartmoor in 15 hours with no drifting, it fell according to watchers as if it was being shovelled from a container.

Farther back in February 1895 an exceptionally cold spell, lasting at least 6 weeks froze lake Windermere . Special trains and buses brought thousands from all the towns in the North of England to skate , it was estimated that 10,000 people skated on February 17th, when an Ice Carnival was held. It must have been an amazing sight.

A cold week with the temperature remaining low night and day. The best day was Tuesday when we had some sunshine , otherwise it was mainly cloudy and very cold with the wind coming from the North and East all week. We only had 11.5 mm of rain but no measurable amounts of snow. It looked very likely several times but we were lucky or unlucky depending how much you like snow.

A wet start to this week with rain for most of the day on Sunday, and more on Monday. Drier on Tuesday but still very dull and cloudy. Yet still more rain on Wednesday and Friday, and a light frost early on Saturday - 38 mm of rain for the week. In spite of the last week January was a dry month, but much colder than we have had for a few years so hopefully less garden pests this year. Last summer they much worse than we've had for a long while - especially slugs and snails.

February averages are over 10 years 85 mm and over 20 years 85.5 mm, so not much difference there; the wettest February was 2007 155.5 mm and rain on 21 days and the driest was 1998 when we had 11 mm and it rained once. At least it's a short month and soon over - followed by March, which by my book, is Spring.

Once again the week started very cold with heavy frosts, temperature down to -5.1°C on Tuesday morning ; but as the week progressed it got slightly warmer. The temperature hovered around zero and we had some more fog and a light frost.

By the end of the week we were back to rain with 2 mm on Friday and 11 mm on Saturday, and more promised for the weekend and into next week. Perhaps the new moon we had on Saturday night will herald a change in the weather as the gulf stream has moved again.

Cold, overcast and gloomy for the early part of the week, with some patchy fog in the mornings and evenings. However, we only had 2 mm of rain. A change towards the weekend though - a very hard frost on Friday and Saturday mornings, down to -3.4°C on Friday morning and - 5.3°C on Saturday. So, very cold, but at least the cloud lifted a bit and we had some sunshine for a while.

Only 11 mm of rain this week, which mainly fell on Thursday, but the start of the week was very damp and overcast with fog at times.This didn't improve until Friday when it was very cold, made worse with a very cold wind. The temperature hovered just above zero most of Friday and into Saturday.

Once again we fared much better than other parts of the country as many had frozen roads and snow to contend with, fun no doubt for children but not too good if you are trying to get to work.

Rain to start and end the first week of the year - 15.5 mm - otherwise some fairly hard frosts with the temperature down to, -3.8°C on Monday and Tuesday morning, slightly less cold on Thursday. Strangely no frost at all on Wednesday, the weather always surprises me.

I see we have been promised some very severe weather towards the end of the coming week.

More haste led me to leave off last week"s January averages, Average rainfall for January is over 10 years 123 mm and over 20 years 122 mm, the wettest January so far is 2014, with 206 mm 26 wet days and the dryest was 1997 with only 12 mm and it rained on two days.

We ended 2016 with the driest December for at least 29 years. We only had 15mm of rain , we had plenty of fog and low cloud, but no more measurable rain.

The total rain for 2016 was 969.5 mm - slightly below average. The wettest month in volume was November, although it only rained on 13 days. In January it rained on 22 days - 112 mm - but it meant that last January we had very little frost because of the mild wet weather.

The longest dry spell was in August when we had 14 consecutive fine days, followed by a 13 day spell in October. For the wettest day in 2016 we have to go to June when we 52 mm on the 15th.

I feel the last 12 months have been fairly average for the South West as far as the weather is concerned. Everyone has probably had a moan about too wet, too dry cold, hot, windy etc, but it really hasn't been that bad and we will at least do as well this year hopefully - even a bit better