Monthly Weather Review - Pitsford Hall

Headline: High pressure dominated the first week with some chilly mornings, but thereafter the county came under the influence of a run of very active Atlantic lows and a mild south-westerly airstream.

November opened with the UK sandwiched between a deep area of low pressure over Scandinavia and high pressure over the North Atlantic west of Ireland. Over the next few days this area of high pressure extended across the UK retreating to affect only the southern half of the British Isles towards the end of the first week. Winds were generally very light from a west or north-westerly direction. Clear skies overnight saw some fairly chilly mornings with the first air frost of the autumn season recorded on the 2nd. There were frequent ground frosts, again the most significant being on the 2nd which was to record the lowest grass minimum of the entire month (-5.3C). Sunshine by day clocked up some reasonable totals for the time of year.

High pressure had generally retreated to continental Europe by the 8th allowing a frontal system to work southwards delivering the first spell of rain across the county. However, high pressure to the south-west extended its influence firstly to the west of the UK on the 9th and then across the whole country by the 10th. This high didn’t remain resident for very long though, giving way quickly to a system of fronts tied into a fairly deep Icelandic low. A transient ridge built across the UK on the wake of this system on the 12th, but this quickly surrendered to a second active low and its attendant fronts on the 13th. In fact, high pressure was never to regain control across the UK for the rest of November. The persistent cyclonic theme established a fairly consistent and mild south-westerly airstream keeping temperatures significantly above the seasonal norm.

A complex pattern of lows emerged immediately to the north of the British Isles on the 14th and frontal systems made frequent ingresses across the county including one on the 17th which delivered some 13.9mm of rain in just under 4.5hrs at Pitsford. The winds remained moderate occasionally fresh and from the south-west. A particularly deep low tracked slowly past the north of Scotland on the 20th with a central low of 952mb recorded south of Iceland at 00hrs. This produced some particularly strong winds across the county overnight on the 19th to 20th with gusts reaching 43mph at Pitsford. A brief ridge built across the UK on the 21st ahead of another very active low. This low became fairly stationary over the next few days with a number of distinct centres developing about the main one over Ireland. Frontal systems tied into this system deluged the county with 17.8mm of rain on the 22nd and a further 11.0mm on the 24th. The latter event was to trigger some localised flooding across the county falling as it did on already heavily saturated ground.

The low finally moved away towards Scandinavia on the 26th . However, the county only had a day’s respite from the rain before another active low swept in from the west on the 27th. 6.9mm fell in just under 4hrs at Pitsford and the county felt a fairly sustained moderate south-westerly, although peak gusts were modest. Low pressure remained the dominant influence over the next few days as the month came to a close, pressure falling significantly on the 30th west of Ireland ahead of gales which were to batter the western fringes of Britain at the start of December.

Overall the month was warmer and wetter than normal. However, no records were broken. Statistically, this was the warmest November since 2003 (8.0C) and the wettest since 2002 (92.3mm). This November contrasted significantly to November 2005 which was much colder and drier than normal.


Air Temperatures    
The Highest Maximum:  16.0C on 13th
The Lowest Maximum:  8.4C on 21st
The Highest Minimum:  10.1C on 28th
The Lowest Minimum:  -1.1C on 2nd
The Mean Maximum:  11.7C  
The Mean Minimum:   4.2C  
The Overall Mean:   7.9C  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: +1.0C  
    
Relative Humidity:    
Highest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 98.6% on 6th
Lowest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 83.8% on 2nd
Mean Relative Humidity (at 0900): 91.7%  
    
Dew Point:    
The Highest Dew Point (0900):  11.6C on 13th
The Lowest Dew Point (at 0900): -0.5C on 2nd
The Mean Dew Point (at 0900): 5.8C  
    
Rainfall:    
Total:    75.5mm  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 141.6%  
Duration:    52.1hrs  
Highest 24 hour fall (0900 to 0900): 17.8mm on 22nd
Rain Days (>/=0.2mm):  17   
Wet Days (>/=1.0mm):  14   
    
Sunshine:    
Total Duration of Bright Sunshine: 80.1hrs  
Sunniest day:   6.5hrs on 2nd
No. of days without sunshine:  4   
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 139.3%  
Cloud cover (mean at 0900):  4.1oktas (51.3%)
    
Pressure (reduced to sea level):    
The Highest Pressure:  1035.7mb on 2nd
The Lowest Pressure:  980.4mb on 23rd
Mean Pressure (recorded at 0900): 1013.1mb  
    
Winds    
Run of wind (mean over 24 hrs): 154.9miles  
Mean daily wind speed:  8.4mph  
Run of wind (cumulative):  4645.8miles  
Highest Maximum Gust:  43mph on 19th
No. of gusts of 50mph or more: 0   
Highest wind strength (at 0900): 23.1mph on 25th
Mean wind strength (at 0900):  9.3mph  
    
Winds from the Following Directions:    

N 1 NE 0 E 0 SE 1 S 9 SW 9 W 3 NW 6 Calm 1  
    
Ground Temperatures:     
Lowest Grass Minimum:  -5.3C on 2nd
Mean Grass Minimum:  0.0C  
Lowest Concrete Minimum:  -2.2C on 2nd
Mean Concrete Minimum:  1.8C  
Lowest Bare Earth Minimum:  -1.2C on 2nd
Mean Bare Earth Minimum:  2.7C  
    
Soil/Earth Temperatures:     
Surface mean:   6.5C  
5cm mean:   6.5C  
10cm mean:   6.9C  
20cm mean:   7.8C  
30cm mean:   8.3C  
40cm mean:   8.4C  
50cm mean:   9.0C  
100cm mean:   10.3C  
    
    
Days with:    
Thunder:    0   
Hail <5mm:   0   
Hail >/=5mm:   0   
Snow or snow & rain:  0   
Fog:    1   
Air Frost:    2  
Duration of Air Frost:  17hrs 
Ground Frost:   18   
    
Total (Tank) Evaporation:  7.34mm 


All data © Pitsford Hall weather station.

The weather station publishes a full Monthly Weather Report (ISSN 1741-4733) which is distributed to libraries across Northamptonshire. This report comprises a full UK weather diary, reports of extreme weather events across the county, statistics from Pitsford Hall's affiliated stations across the county as well as news from the weather station itself. Individuals may download this report for £2 or take out an annual subscription for the paper-based report for £25. Click here for further details.