WEATHER REPORT FOR 1973
| A dreary start to the year with an uninteresting January. It was | ||||||
| generally mild, damp and foggy. Very quiet with intermittent rain | ||||||
| throughout the month. Nearly an inch of snow fell on most parts of the | ||||||
| County on the night of the 19/20th but it soon thawed. The weather | ||||||
| became colder during February with some strong winds, There was no | ||||||
| amount of fog, snow, rain or sharp frosts and it was much sunnier than | ||||||
| January. | ||||||
| March was the windy month that it is often reputed to be. The | ||||||
| winds were often strong and blustery. It was incredibly dry in most | ||||||
| places with long sunny periods. Typical of a March there were some high | ||||||
| maximum and low minimum temperatures. Air frost was recorded on 11 | ||||||
| nights in the Northampton area, but Mr. Holmes at Sudborough recorded | ||||||
| air frost on 19 occasions, thus confirming his ' frost pocket ' minima. | ||||||
| There were 8 night air frosts recorded at Sudborough in April, twice as | ||||||
| many as anywhere else. April was cool with average rainfall. A thunder- | ||||||
| storm was recorded in the Wellingborough area on the 23rd. | ||||||
| Thunderstorms were recorded on the 7th, 21st and 28th of May | ||||||
| which contributed to above average rainfall for the month. The mean | ||||||
| temperature was about average although some days were very warm for | ||||||
| the time of the year. | ||||||
| June heralded the start of a golden summer. Apart from 3 days the | ||||||
| sun shone every day of the month, yet despite this the rainfall was well | ||||||
| above average, due to heavy rain towards the end of the month. Some of | ||||||
| this rain was accompanied with thunder and lightning. The storms at the | ||||||
| end of June did not upset July which came in with a blaze of glorious | ||||||
| sunshine. July did have overcast spells and periods whell there were | ||||||
| outbreaks of thundery rain, but it was generally warm and sunny. | ||||||
| Temperatures were average and rainfall was below average. | ||||||
| It was often very hot in August, many days were completely cloud- | ||||||
| less. A very dry month although we did get some wet spells. The 5th had | ||||||
| continuous rain during the day followed by a rough wet night, but after | ||||||
| this there was no more than the odd shower for the rest of the month, | ||||||
| although the last 2 days of August were mostly overcast. The beauty | ||||||
| about the rainfall for the summer of 1973 was that most of it fell at night. | ||||||
| September showed two faces. The first 2 weeks were sunny and dry, | ||||||
| it became more cloudy on the 13th and after the weather remained dull | ||||||
| and rather cool. There was a thunderstorm on the evening of the 15th. The | ||||||
| last 3 days of September were rather windy, this breezy weather continued | ||||||
| into the first few days of October. This was generally a dull month, but | ||||||
| also a mixed bag. It had frost, fog, wind, thunder and lightning, sunshine | ||||||
| and rain. Some days were cloudless and some miserably wet. Much | ||||||
| of iti precipitation was in the form of slight rain and drizzle, so it was re- | ||||||
| garded as being drier that average. It was cool with several ground frosts. | ||||||
| I thought November was windier than usual especially during the | ||||||
| first two weeks. There was intermittent rain throughout the month. | ||||||
| Morning fog was not as frequent as usual for this time of the year. There | ||||||
| was much more sunshine in the second half of the month, but the clear | ||||||
| skies were paid for with very low temperatures. There were sharp night | ||||||
| frosts. The maximum daytime temperatures of the last 5 days of November | ||||||
| and the first 2 days of December only just rose above freezing point. Snow | ||||||
| fell from mid-day on the 28th November, it turned to rain after sunset, | ||||||
| but it did not clear all the snow, some of which lay on the ground for a few | ||||||
| days. After the cold start to December it did get a little milder. The winds | ||||||
| were strong and gusty at times, quite a lot of sunny periods, intermittent | ||||||
| rainfall and a little snow in the form of wintery showers. | ||||||
| Mr. Brierley recording the Astronomical Weather thought that his | ||||||
| figures indicated a windier than usual year. Although there was no record | ||||||
| of strong gales we did get a fair amount of wind throughout most of the | ||||||
| year. I think 1973 will probably be remembered for a summer that was as | ||||||
| near to perfection as anyone could reasonably expect. | ||||||