Monthly retrospective for December 2015

It was exceptionally mild but very wet in places in the north & west but rather dull too esp in the south. The (Hadley) CET mean temperature was near 9.8C, the highest mean in December recorded since records began, making it warmer than November 2015 (which in itself was very mild) and 5.2C above the normal average. A number of daily maximum temperature records were broken.

December saw temperature anomalies range from about 1-2C above average in the far north to over 6C above on the southern English coast. Hurn (Dorset) was 6.4C above average, and thus was exceptionally mild. The degree of this warmth cannot be overemphasised but it is interesting and quite significant that no weather agency was able to forecast it in advance. It cause may to an extent be due to the extent of the ongoing El Nino event and/or possibly global climate change but there is no definite scientific agreement on this. The warmest places by day were

Summary

• Temperature-  overall mean (CET for England); rather above average (+1.5C)
• UK rainfall –  rather above average (120% of the average)
• UK sunshine – rather below average (85% of the average)
• Winds- rather above average strength & predominantly likely to be W-SW’ly

December forecast synoptic summary

Week 1 from the 1st-7th December will initially see high pressure across France but low pressure to the NW  and a southerly flow developing on the 3rd though low pressure running across the south and works away SE on the 4th with pressure rising from the west but further deep low pressure will be near Iceland giving a stronger gradient across the UK. Another low seems likely to run NE from the Atlantic towards N Ireland & W Scotland by late on the 5th, and further deep low pressure areas running

Monthly retrospective for November 2015

It was a notably mild but wet month for most and very dull in the south, though sunshine was near average in the far north. The (Hadley) CET mean temperature was near 9.6C, a full 3C above the average. The record for the highest ever temperature recorded in the UK in November was broken on November 1st with 22.4C at Trawscoed, Ceredigion.

November saw temperature anomalies range from about 1-2C above average in the north to over 3C above in the central south. One of the warmest places by day was Guernsey with a mean maximum temperature of 13.7C. The coldest mean minimum by night was 2.3C at Aboyne in the Highlands. Pressure was 6mb below average in the far northern Isles but 4mb above in the Channel Isles, attesting to the strong pressure gradients at times.

November was a notably wet month in places, Shap Fell in Cumbria saw about 230% of it normal rainfall and compared to its 25% last month Edinburgh saw 215% of its

Monthly retrospective for October 2015

It was a rather dry month away from the NE and east coasts and often dominated by high pressure but dull in the south, though quite sunny in the main in the north. The (Hadley) CET mean temperature was near 11.0C, slightly above the average.

October saw temperature anomalies range from rather above average in far northern parts (Lerwick in the Shetland Isles was 1.8C above average) to near average elsewhere. One of the warmest places by day was Heathrow with a mean maximum temperature of 15.7C. The coldest by night was again Shap Fell with a mean minimum of 4.0C. Most of the UK was just above average in fact. Pressure was very much higher than average, as much as 8mb in parts of

Monthly retrospective for September 2015

September saw temperature anomalies range from just above average in far northern parts (Lerwick was 0.8C above average) and well below average in parts of the south Midlands (Hereford & Benson were 1.7C below average). One of the warmest places by day was Hurn with a mean maximum temperature of 18.8C. The coldest was Shap Fell with a mean minimum of 5.4C. However, most of the UK was only just below average in fact. Pressure was about 2mb above average over most northern parts and near average in the south.

September was a notably wet month in places at first in the south east & east but became much drier by the end. However, parts of the east still saw above average, Wattisham saw about 125% of its normal amount of rain but elsewhere it was generally rather dry. Much of Western Scotland & NW England and N Wales & N Ireland saw just 30-35% of its average rainfall.

Generally, it was rather sunnier than

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Brought up in Portsmouth, Plymouth and Falmouth, Dave was always particularly close to our maritime climate and says it was perhaps why he developed an early interest in the effects of the weather and in particular how it effects peoples' lives. By the time he was fifteen he was regularly submitting his monthly weather readings to the Climatological Observers Link (COL).

After joining the Met Office he worked in the vastly different environments of Kew Observatory, London and Heathrow Airport. During the eighties he left the Met Office to concentrate on developing a media and educational side to his career, gaining both a BA in TV and Media Communication and an MA Hons in Information and Communication Technology in Education.

In 2002 he started his own weather company Wiseweather (www.wiseweather.co.uk) and has been a regular contributor to various weather forums for over ten years now, having produced a wide variety of forecasts for the 'UKWeatherworld' site and others over

St Annes Old Links Golf Club has been established since 1901 on land which since 1886 had been home to the Lytham & St. Anne’s Golf Club. The club is located in the North West of England about a mile from the Royal Lytham Open 2012 venue.

Stuart Hogg is the Course Manager at St Annes Old Links and has been at the club for over 8 years. Stuart controls the budgets and purchasing of equipment, and has the responsibility of maintaining the greens, fairways and even the car park! The course has 7 full time staff and 4 part time staff depending on the time of year. Stuart started a career in greenkeeping as his “ideal job would be one which he could still play football on a Saturday afternoon!”. He started a Youth Training Scheme job at a championship course local to home and has been developing his knowledge, understanding and skills ever since.

Stuart had used a Davis Vantage

The British Antarctic Survey purchased their first Davis Vantage Pro from us in 2004 to use on the air strip at Sky-Blu, http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/Living_and_Working/Stations/Sky_Blu/index.html. The instrument is used to give reliable information to their support aircraft during take off and landings. The groomed blue ice runway is up to 1.2 km in length and 50 m wide, permanently marked by flags.

A second purchase in 2005 means the new Davis Vantage Pro 2, with its increased transmission range of up to 300 metres, is to be located at Fossil Bluff later in the year, http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/Living_and_Working/Stations/Fossil_Bluff/index.html. This site is a facility for refueling aircraft

The Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at the University of Sussex is the largest research group in the UK studying honey bees and other social insects the bees, wasps and ants that live in a colony with a queen and workers. LASI research studies the honey bee and other social insects "in the round" addressing both applied and basic questions.

Their Davis Vantage Pro 2 station was installed after being acquired as part of the Sussex Plan for Honey Bee Health and Well Being. Dr Martyn Stenning, Technician for the University of Sussex' Biology and Environmental Science department and Mr Phil Chitty from the ITS support, installed the meteorological station on the roof of the Laboratory. It is hooked up to a laptop inside the laboratory where it will feed information through on a daily basis. Dr Margaret Couvillon said: "The weather station will provide accurate and up to date information