Thursday, March 28, 2024

Too warm for winter?

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Frosty morning

Alvechurch amateur weatherman Phil Thomas records the changes.

December started out quite cold, with night frosts over the first few days. From the 7th onwards it turned very much milder. As we went to press, the highest daytime temperature so far had been 14.4C on the 8th.

For December, this has only been beaten by 14.8C in 1994, and the very mild December last year with 14.6C, according to local measurements over the past 30 years.

December 2016 (to the 16th)
Mean Max   9.4C   2.3 above average
Mean Min   3.8C   2.3 above average
Mean     6.6C   2.3 above average
Rainfall     21.3mm   31% of average
Sunshine 30.6 hrs 63% of average

November was a cold month, with a mean temperature of 5.7C, which is 1.1C below the local 30-year mean. It started very dry, but soon changed with 23mm of rain on the 8th – that’s nearly an inch in a 12-hour period.

It turned out to be very wet for the entire month with 113.1mm of rainfall, 145% of the local mean. There was a period (from the 19th to 21st) with 60.7mm in less than 72 hours.

November 2016
Mean Max 8.6C 1.2 below average
Mean Min   2.8C   1.0 above average
Mean     5.8C   1.1 above average
Rainfall   113.1mm 145% of average
Sunshine 87.3 hrs 137% of average

Outlook
December probably will end up being yet another warmer than normal winter month. Some computer models are indicating cooler weather at the turn of the year, but at the time of writing the trends beyond the end of the month could go either way.

There does not seem to be any very cold weather indicated – but the last time I suggested this, it snowed…

More information at https://www.alvechurchweather.metsite.com 
You can now see an improved HD weather-cam, updated at one-minute intervals, at: https://www.alvechurchweather.metsite.com/webcam_alvechurch.php