Monthly Weather Review - Pitsford Hall

Headline: Exceptionally mild for the time of year, apart from a brief cold snap in the third week. Vigorous Atlantic lows brought gales in the 11th and on the 18th in particular.

The New Year started on a very unsettled theme with cyclonic conditions dominating the weather across the UK. Following a particularly windy New Year’s Eve, strong winds persisted into the first few days of 2007 with gusts at Pitsford reaching 36mph on the 2nd and 38mph on the 3rd. With the wind coming from a mainly westerly or south-westerly direction it was exceptionally mild for the time of year with an absence of air frost overnight and daytime maxima exceeding 10C on the 3rd and 5th. It was also a particularly showery period with a fairly steady record of rainfall everyday.

A fairly active frontal system pushed through the county on the 6th resulting in a particularly wet day with 7.6mm of rain recorded over a little more than 6 hours. The 6th to the 8th were pretty dull days with no sunshine recorded. The wet weather continued for several days. An intense low passed close to the coast of northern Scotland on the 9th driving some particularly strong winds across a large part of the UK. Fronts tied into this system delivered some 12.5mm of rain at Pitsford. This low would be quickly followed by an even deeper depression which was to produce a rare gale across the county during the morning of the 12th. Damage was restricted to some uprooted trees and an overturned lorry on the A43 near Kettering. However, further rain on already saturated ground caused some flooding near the Great Ouse at Passenham.

A window of fine weather was eventually reached on the 14th and the 3 hours of sunshine which were enjoyed during the day made this the brightest day since 3.1 hours were recorded on the 1st. Relatively clear skies the night before would also cause temperatures to drop to around 2.3C around dawn, making this the coldest day of the month so far. However, the fine spell would be short lived as further frontal systems brought rain across the county overnight on the 15th.

The next few days were to become progressively windier and on the 18th a very active low pressure system worked in from the south-west approaches. Gale force winds battered the county with gusts reaching 65mph at Pitsford and reports of even stronger winds recorded elsewhere across the county. Parts of the M1, A14 and A45 were closed and trains were suspended on the Midland Mainline railway as power lines were torn down. Numerous trees succumbed to the wind and around 80 000 homes across the county were left without power. Overall, the storm was the worst in Britain for 17 years. The strong west or south-westerly winds would also make for exceptionally mild temperatures January and from the 17th to the 19th daytime maxima consistently exceeded 12C.

The first taste of really cold weather was to arrive across the county after the 20th. A frontal system introduced a cold Arctic airflow and for the first time air temperatures fell below freezing on the morning of the 23rd with lows recorded at -1.5C. The following evening the county was to receive a fairly extensive blanket of snow , up to 3cm at Pitsford, which was to remain on the ground albeit in more sheltered spots for the next few days.

The last week of January was fairly settled as high pressure built in across the UK from the west. Temperatures generally recovered becoming mild again for the time of year by the end of the month and most days were generally dry , although sunshine was in rather short supply.


Air Temperatures    
The Highest Maximum:  13.1C on 9th
The Lowest Maximum:  3.0C on 23rd
The Highest Minimum:  9.5C on 10th
The Lowest Minimum:  -2.5C on 24th
The Mean Maximum:  9.5C  
The Mean Minimum:   3.9C  
The Overall Mean:   6.7C  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: +2.3C  
    
Relative Humidity:    
Highest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 98.7% on 16th
Lowest Relative Humidity (at 0900): 79.6% on 15th & 19th
Mean Relative Humidity (at 0900): 89.4%  
    
Dew Point:    
The Highest Dew Point (0900):  11.3C on 18th
The Lowest Dew Point (at 0900): -3.8C on 23rd
The Mean Dew Point (at 0900): 4.6C  
    
Rainfall:    
Total:    66.4mm  
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 126.9%  
Duration:    42.6hrs  
Highest 24 hour fall (0900 to 0900): 12.5mm on 9th
Rain Days (>/=0.2mm):  22   
Wet Days (>/=1.0mm):  17   
    
Sunshine:    
Total Duration of Bright Sunshine: 55.5hrs  
Sunniest day:   5.4hrs on 23rd
No. of days without sunshine:  6   
Difference from the Monthly Mean: 125%  
Cloud cover (mean at 0900):  6.0oktas 75%
    
Pressure (reduced to sea level):    
The Highest Pressure:  1032.8mb on 27th
The Lowest Pressure:  981.9mb on 18th
Mean Pressure (recorded at 0900): 1014.9mb  
    
Winds    
Run of wind (mean over 24 hrs): 189.3miles  
Mean daily wind speed:  10.3mph  
Run of wind (cumulative):  5869.2miles  
Highest Maximum Gust:  65mph on 18th
No. of gusts of 50mph or more: 1   
Highest wind strength (at 0900): 25.4mph on 11th
Mean wind strength (at 0900):  12.9mph  
    
Winds from the Following Directions:    

N 3 NE 1 E 0 SE 0 S 6 SW 12 W 3 NW 6 Calm 0  
    
Ground Temperatures:     
Lowest Grass Minimum:  -7.5C on 24th
Mean Grass Minimum:  -0.5C  
Lowest Concrete Minimum:  -4.6C on 25th
Mean Concrete Minimum:  1.2C  
Lowest Bare Earth Minimum:  -2.1C on 26th
Mean Bare Earth Minimum:  2.3C  
    
Soil/Earth Temperatures:     
Surface mean:   5.3C  
5cm mean:   5.2C  
10cm mean:   5.4C  
20cm mean:   5.9C  
30cm mean:   6.1C  
40cm mean:   6.1C  
50cm mean:   6.6C  
100cm mean:   7.1C  
    
Days with:    
Thunder:    0   
Hail <5mm:   1   
Hail >/=5mm:   0   
Snow or snow & rain:  1
Snow lying:  3  
Fog:    0  
Air Frost:    4
Duration of Air Frost:  20.0hrs   
Ground Frost:   16   
Gales:    2   
    
Total (Pan) Evaporation:  11.65mm 

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.