Autumn 2009 Weather Review

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I’m just going to do another rundown of the local weather conditions here through the meteorological Autumn (thats September, October and November), they reflect those experienced over much of East Anglia and the south east, although we were considerably drier than areas to the south of London. This was the warmest autumn for 3 years, although we were never going to beat the autumn of 2006 which was the warmest Autumn in recorded history, and by some distance. Curiously though this time we managed to avoid any air frost at all (there were 4 in 2006) and thats the first time that autumn has been air frost free in 7 years. It was also looking to be a very dry season (believe it or not!), but a wet November meant we didn’t end up too far from the long-term normal for Autumn. So lets take a look at the 3 months in a little more detail.

September started on the warm side with temperatures by day generally between 20 and 25C through the first couple of weeks. It rained on the first 3 days of the month but not at all over the next 29, bringing us our longest absolutely dry spell in over a decade. Only one month in 13 years has seen fewer days with rain (August 2003). It was the warmest September since 2006 but over 2 degrees cooler than that month. The rain in the first 3 days meant it was the driest September for ‘only’ 7 years.

Despite some decent rainfall in early October the drought never really broke and we ended up with our driest October in 14 years. It wasn’t particularly warm but there was a complete abscence of any cold nights and towards the end of the month, in particular, there were a number of overnight low temperatures remaining in double figures. Therefore it was the warmest October since (again) the out of reach 2006, and over 2 degrees warmer than last October which saw air frosts and even some snow in the region.

November continued on the mild side but this time the weather was coming straight of the Atlantic Ocean and although we are pretty protected on the eastern side of the country we still endured some pretty strong systems which brought frequent dollops of rain and high winds, reaching around 50mph on the 14th although I didn’t observe any major damage other than the last leaves (and a few twigs) being stripped from the trees, it was also 15 degrees in the middle of the night – that would be perfectly acceptable in midsummer! the rain was welcome here after the drought, by months end we had clocked up nearly 80mm making it the second wettest November in the 14 years I’ve been observing the weather here.

Gardening notes

The vinca, solanum laxum ‘album’ and hebe are STILL in flower and winter starts tomorrow, my hardy summer annuals I raised from seed in September are huge and will probably be flowering by April at this rate. The garlic has just popped up and the iris bulbs and even some daffs and tulips are coming up. I tested the new greenhouse heater in early October but I havent needed it again until tonight (Nov 30). I love the sight of snow though and would be happy to see a little around the festive season, but nothing too disruptive. Seasons greetings, and if you want my winter forecast – I’m going for a mild one, as are the Met Office, you can see it here. For full stats see my website http://www.weatherwise.org.uk/

• 30 Nov, 2009
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