Monthly Weather Review - Pitsford Hall

Headline: Unsettled during the first part of the month with rain, heavy at times, and a mild south-westerly airstream. Turning much colder later and ending the month raw.

November began with several days of winds from a northerly quadrant. These winds brought fairly dull conditions across the county with some occasional rain, most notably on the 1st which saw 20mm fall in a little under 10 hours beginning during the evening and continuing overnight into the 2nd.

Unsettled weather continued from the 7th until the 11th. The rain became heavy at times particularly on the 8th and 9th with 16.5mm recorded at Pitsford in the space of 2.5 hrs. Some exceptional downpours were recorded in parts of the county on the 10th (5.0mm in just 15 minutes at Brixworth) and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue were called out to deal with instances of localized flooding. Despite the heavy rain, the county escaped any Environment Agency flood warnings. Strong winds also developed, once again some of the strongest being noted on the 8th and again on the 9th when gusts of up to 44mph were recorded. Despite the unsettled conditions, there were some sunnier intervals in contrast with the first week.

The proximity of high pressure to the south maintained a mild south-westerly airstream across the county from the 13th to the 17th. There were some good spells of sunshine initially, but it turned increasingly overcast from the 16th and early morning visibilities were reduced. There were spells of rain, but these were generally light, the most falling on the 13th with 2.6mm with most days recording less than 1.0mm. The highest temperature fell on the 15th at 14.4mm.

The final third of November was generally cold. Winds were generally from the north or north-west and on the 23rd brought some snow showers to the county early in the day which then quickly turned to rain without settling. Of added note on the 23rd was the change in barometric pressure. The reduction in barometric pressure between 0600 and 0900 GMT was recorded as 9mb, one of the fast rates of pressure change recorded by the station in the last 10 years and overall a fall of 20mb was recorded between 0000hrs and 1200hrs. Daytime temperatures were modest, struggling to reach 6C on the 22nd, although most evenings escaped a hard air frost apart from the overnight period into the 23rd. However, ground frosts occurred on most nights.

Milder conditions returned albeit rather briefly on the 26th and 27th, although the last few days of November saw a return to very cold conditions. Fog was slow to clear on the 28th and lasted all day on the 29th giving rise to a couple of particularly miserable days with highs failing to reach 3C on the 29th. Fog gave way to fairly persistent rain on the 30th.

Air Temperatures    
The Highest Maximum:    14.4 C on 15th
The Lowest Maximum:    2.6 C on 29th
The Highest Minimum:    9.3 C on 16th
The Lowest Minimum:    -2.5 C on 23rd
The Mean Maximum:    9.5 C  
The Mean Minimum:    4.2 C  
The Overall Mean:    6.9 C  
Difference from the Monthly Mean:  +0.4 C  
    
Black Bulb    
Maximum (at 0900):    12.3 C on 15th
Mean (at 0900):    6.5 C  
    
Relative Humidity:    
Highest Relative Humidity (at 0900):  100.0 % on 4th, 6th, 18th & 29th
Lowest Relative Humidity (at 0900):  67.9 % on 21st
Mean Relative Humidity (at 0900):  90.5 %  
    
Dew Point:    
The Highest Dew Point (0900):   9.6 C on 4th
The Lowest Dew Point (at 0900):  -0.6 C on 22nd & 29th
The Mean Dew Point (at 0900):   5.1 C  
    
Rainfall:    
Total:      72.6 mm  
Difference from the Monthly Mean:  136.2 %  
Duration:     46.0 hrs  
Highest 24 hour fall (0900 to 0900):  20.0 mm on 1st
Rain Days (>/=0.2mm):    16   
Wet Days (>/=1.0mm):    13   
    
Sunshine:    
Total Duration of Bright Sunshine:  39.0 hrs  
Sunniest day:     5.1 hrs on 25th
No. of days without sunshine:   11   
Difference from the Monthly Mean:  67.8 %  
Cloud cover (mean at 0900):   6.3 oktas (78.8 %)
    
Pressure (reduced to sea level at 0900):    
The Highest Pressure:    1033.2 mb on 17th
The Lowest Pressure:    995.6 mb on 29th
Mean Pressure (recorded at 0900):  1013.4 mb  
    
Winds    
Run of wind (mean over 24 hrs):  139.7 miles  
Mean daily wind speed:    7.6 mph  
Run of wind (cumulative):   4190.4 miles  
Highest Maximum Gust:   46 mph on 20th
No. of gusts of 50mph or more:  0   
Highest wind strength (at 0900):  23.1 mph on 21st
Mean wind strength (at 0900):   12.2 mph  
    
Winds from the Following Directions:    

N 8 NE 1 E 1 SE 0 S 6 SW 5 W 1 NW 6 Calm 2
    
Concrete     
Lowest Concrete Minimum:   -4.8 C on 23rd
Mean Concrete Minimum:   2.2 C  
    
Evaporation    
Piche      40.3 ml  
Pan      6.02 mm      

Days with:    
Thunder:     0   
Hail <5mm:     0   
Hail >/=5mm:    0   
Snow or snow & rain:    1   
Snow lying:    0   
Fog:      3   
Air Frost:     3   
Duration of Air Frost:   22.0 hrs
Gales:      0   


All data © Pitsford Hall weather station.

Erratum: Duration of Air Frost – October 2008 – 7.0hrs (not XXX as mistakenly printed)

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