The Weather in Combe Raleigh in 2017

We’ve just had the wettest Christmas since we started recording weather in Combe Raleigh ! But that’s not the full meteorological story of 2017. We’ve enjoyed high temperatures and sunshine in June and high winds in the autumn. Let’s look at the high’s and lows …

We had a dry year in comparison to the historical record, with 760.6mm annual rainfall, which is 131.2 mm less than 2016, at 891.8 mm. We had 197 days where it rained more than 0.2mm. The wettest month by volume was December, with 113.8 mm where it rained ( > 0.2mm) for 23 days, with the wettest day being the 25^th  (Christmas Day !) with 24.6 mm. The driest month was April, with 5 rain days and 28.8 mm. The Met Office yearly average for SW England was 1220.2 mm and 164.1 days where it rained more than 0.2mm.

Temperatures were up from last year, with the yearly average temperature rising to 10.7°C, from 10.6°C in 2016. The Met Office yearly average for SW England was 10.5°C. Over the year, temperature data recorded 22 days above 22°C, with no days dropping below -5°C. The lowest recorded temperature recorded was -4.8°C on 3^rd January, at 7:24 am. The highest recorded temperature was 30.0°C on 20th June at 3:40pm.

May and June were the peak months for Sunshine hours, with an annual total of 845.5 Hrs.

We had 35 ground frosts, with no Ice Days recorded (days where the temp did not rise above 0°C). The Met Office frost days for SW England was 29.8. 

Our weather recording equipment had a couple of failures this year, one due to a faulty backup battery and unfortunately a more expensive PCB failure on the Soil Temp module. The Temp/Humidity module also displayed a problem, however this part needs to be changed periodically so was not totally unexpected.

As predicted last year, the relocation of the anemometer has provided a much better indicator of wind speed and direction, resulting in a less sheltered and eddy-affected measurement. We recorded a record high wind speed in December of 43 Mph.

Summary daily data

Number of days where …

Max. Temp. exceeded/equalled 22 °C was 25.

Max. Temp. was lower than 0 °C was 0. (No Ice days)

Min. Temp. was lower than -5 °C was 0.

Precipitation exceeded/equalled 0.2mm was 197.

Precipitation exceeded/equalled 2.5mm was 96.

Recorded weather data

Average temperature     = 10.7°C

Average humidity        = 82%

Average dew point        = 7.2°C

Average barometer       = 1016.5 mb

Average wind speed       = 2.0 mph

Average gust speed       = 4.0 mph

Average direction       = 238° (WSW)

Rainfall for year       = 760.6 mm

Maximum rain per minute = 1.6 mm/min on day 25^th December at 6:27pm

Maximum temperature     = 30.0°C on 20th June at 3:40pm

Minimum temperature     = -4.8°C on 3^rd January, at 7:24 am

Maximum pressure        = 1038.4 mb on 1^st January at 0:37am

Minimum pressure        = 976.0 mb on day 1^st December at 07:36am

Maximum wind speed       = 23.0 mph  142°(SE) on 31^st January at 8:40am

Maximum gust speed      = 42.6 mph  221°(SW) on 29th^th December at 7:28am

Maximum UV Index= 9.3 on 12^th July at 1:31pm

Maximum Solar                    = 1329 W²m on 9^th June

Maximum Sunshine Hours             = 11.0 hrs on 18^th June

Total Sunshine Hours                     = 845.5 hrs

And I say it every year, Still no Snow !

Comparing with an average across the 6 years we have been recording weather here in Combe Raleigh, the following table shows how 2017 compared;