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The Weather in Combe Raleigh in 2016 - (Published in the Raleigh Rag)

Over 2016, the weather was very mild and the summer was quite warm. A sunny May and August and a dry July provided a good summer for once. If you remember August 2015, it was really wet and less than half of the sunshine of this year. It was nice to enjoy the sunshine in the garden for once !

 The Weather Station worked faultlessly this year, and we managed to re-locate the anemometer to a higher point, so wind indications for 2017 will show a more accurate value, in line with the flag waving on St Nicholas Tower ! There are some additional measurements we would like to make over 2017, including Cloud heights using our Ceiliometer and maybe finally install a Seismograph for earth movements.

 The annual rainfall over 2016 was 891.8 mm, compared with 2015 with 829.8 mm, a small increase. The wettest month by volume was January, with 132.2 mm where it rained ( > 0.2mm) for 28 days, with the wettest day being the 18^th with 22.4 mm. The driest month was July, with 11 rain days and 10.2 mm. Overall the distribution of rainfall was much more in-line with the long-term averages. The Met Office yearly average for England was 852.6 mm.

 Temperatures were down again from last year, with the yearly average temperature dropping to 10.6°C, from 10.8°C in 2015. The Met Office yearly average for England was 10.1°C. Over the year, temperature data recorded 36 days above 22°C, with no days dropping below -5°C. The lowest recorded temperature recorded was -4.3°C on 16^th February, at 6:05am. The highest recorded temperature was 28.7°C on 19^th July at 2:02pm.

 May and August were the peak months for Sunshine hours, with an annual total of 788.8 Hrs. This was down again this year, but could have been affected due to the location move of the station last year, as we enjoyed some long sun days this summer.

 Still no significant snow, and none recorded as accumulated on the ground however it did precipitate snow on the 18^th November at around 9am. Will I ever build a Snowman in Combe Raleigh ? We had 47 ground frosts, with no Ice Days recorded (Days where the temp did not rise above 0°C).

 Comparing with an average across the 5 years we have been recording weather here in Combe Raleigh, the following table shows how 2016 compared;

Recorded weather data

Average temperature     = 10.6°C

Average humidity        = 87%

Average dew point        = 8.5°C

Average barometer       = 1015.8 mb

Average wind speed       = 1.2 mph

Average gust speed       = 2.8 mph

Average direction       = 200° (SSW) 

Rainfall for year       = 891.8 mm

Maximum rain per minute = 1.0 mm/min on day 20^th November at 12:22am

Maximum temperature     = 28.7°C on 19th July at 2:02pm

Minimum temperature     = -4.8°C on 16^th February, at 7:14 am

Maximum pressure        = 1044.5 mb on 2^nd December at 8:49pm

Minimum pressure        = 969.4 mb on day 1^st November at time 12:40pm

Maximum wind speed       = 16.1 mph  208°(SSW) on 28^th March at 1:28am

Maximum gust speed      = 35.7 mph  145°( SE) on 6^th February at 2:29pm

Maximum UV Index             = 8.6 on 27^th June

Maximum Solar                    = 1350 W²m on 3^rd July

Maximum Sunshine Hours             = 10.5 hrs on 19^th July

Total Sunshine Hours                     = 788.8 hrs 

Maximum Radiation Exposure = 14.71 cpm ( 0.13 µSv) on 7^th March

Minimum Radiation Exposure = 7.5 cpm ( 0.06 µSv) on 1^st November

It was a fairly quiet meteorological year, where we experienced a fairly warm but moist summer and very few frosts over the winter. We are currently having warm weather over Christmas and New Year, which is quite unseasonal.

A review of the measured data points shows that 2015 has been warm, and slightly dryer than previous years, not that it feels that way at the moment!

Our weather monitoring has been reliable this year, after some preventative maintenance and moving of the measurement station prior to our building work over the summer. This has had a small effect on the measurements taken, but nothing worth noting. I really must move the Anemometer to a higher position, to get a better reading for wind strength and direction, which is affected by the church tower and the woodland.

The annual rainfall over 2015 was 829.8 mm, compared with 2014 with 1115.2 mm, so moderately less rainfall. The wettest month by volume was August, with 132.6 mm where it rained for 15 days. December was notable with 29 days of rainfall. The driest month was April, with 9 rain days and 20 mm. The Met Office yearly average for England was 883 mm.

Temperatures were down from last year, with the yearly average temperature dropping to 10.8°C, from 11.1°C in 2014. The Met Office yearly average for England was 10.2°C. Over the year, temperature data recorded 15 days above 22°C, with no days dropping below -5°C. The lowest recorded temperature recorded was -4.3°C on 2^nd February, at 7:14 am. The highest recorded temperature was 26.9°C on 30^th June at 3:45 pm.

The Met Office confirmed that December was the warmest December since records began in 1910.

April and June were the peak months for Sunshine hours, with a total of 881.4 Hrs. This was down from last year’s value of 951.9 Hrs.

Again, we had no snow recorded but 35 ground frosts. Interestingly, there were no frosts in December because of the unseasonal warm weather.

Comparing with an average across the 4 years we have been recording weather here in Combe Raleigh, the following table shows how 2015 compared;

Recorded weather data

Average temperature     = 10.8°C

Average humidity        = 87%

Average dewpoint        = 8.5°C

Average barometer       = 1017.4 mb

Average windspeed       = 1.6 mph

Average gustspeed       = 3.4 mph

Average direction       = 188° ( S )

Rainfall for year       = 829.8 mm

Maximum rainfall per minute = 1.2 mm on 22^nd August at 3:40 pm

Maximum temperature     = 26.9°C on 30^th June at 3:45 pm

Minimum temperature     = -4.3°C on 2^nd February at 7:14 am

Maximum pressure        = 1042.6 mb on 1^st February at 12:51 am

Minimum pressure        = 978.5 mb on 11^th January at 5:28 am

Maximum windspeed       = 16.1 mph  180°( S ) on 31^st December at 11:57 am

Maximum gust speed      = 36.8 mph  180°( S ) on 14^th January at 11:07 am

Maximum UV Index             = 8.6 on 6^th July

Maximum Solar                    = 1294 W²m on 9^th June

Maximum Sunshine Hours             = 11.5 hrs on 7^th June

Total Sunshine Hours                     = 881.4 hrs

Maximum Radiation Exposure = 14.71 cpm ( 0.13 µSv) on 7^th March

Minimum Radiation Exposure = 7.5 cpm ( 0.06 µSv) on 1^st November

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The Weather in Combe Raleigh in 2014 - (Published in the Raleigh Rag)

It’s been an interesting year for the weather in general, but the wet and stormy weather at the beginning of the year made a challenging start for 2014 with approx. 200mm of rain each month in January and February. A warm summer followed, ensuring a good vegetable crop although a poor quantity of apples compared with 2013. September was unseasonably dry and the cold snap didn’t really appear until the end of December.

Weather monitoring has been fairly reliable this year, although an equipment failure caused some odd readings in March, which have been corrected. We’ve not had much time to add additional sensors this year, for some reason! We do need to add some height to the anemometer so expect that to appear on top of the Old School shortly. Some more work on the soil sensors needs to be completed too.

Recorded weather

The year was wetter with 1115.2 mm compared with 839.4mm rainfall in 2013. However 2012 still remains wettest with 1288.2 mm. Wettest month was February with 204.8 mm and 28 rain days (Yes, it rained every day !) There were 120 precipitation days with more than 2.5mm rain recorded.  The driest month was September with 16.2 mm and 6 rain days. 

The Met Office has confirmed that September was the driest month on record for the UK in a series from 1910.

It was also a warm year, with an increase in average temp of 1°C over last year. Our temp average of 11.1°C is above our reading last year (10.1°C) and also above the average temp for the UK at 9.9 °C. Temp data recorded 38 days above 22°C, with only 2 days dropping below -5°C.

The Met Office has confirmed that 2014 was the warmest overall year since 1910. 

No recorded snow fall, but 30 instances of ground frost.

Average temperature     = 11.1°C
Average humidity        = 86%
Average dewpoint        = 8.2 °C
Average barometer       = 1012.5 mb

Average windspeed       = 1.1 mph
Average gustspeed       = 2.6 mph
Average direction       = 186° ( S )
Maximum windspeed       = 20.7 mph  203°(SSW) on 14th Feb at 20:53
Maximum gust speed      = 40.3 mph  180°( S ) on 12th Feb at 12:34
Total windrun     = 9834.2 miles

Rainfall for year= 1115.2 mm
Maximum rain per minute     = 7.9 mm on 22nd May at 09:44
Maximum rain in 1 hour     = 10.4 mm  on 19th September at 07:47
Record Daily Rainfall      = 25.2 mm on 1st January

Maximum temperature     = 28.3°C on 26th July at 15:36
Minimum temperature     = -6.3°C on 29th December at 06:55

Maximum pressure        = 1044.4 mb on 29th December at 20:23
Minimum pressure        = 969.8 mb on day 14th Feb at 20:36

Maximum UV Index= 8.8 on 5th July at 12:50
Maximum Solar= 1322 W2m on 28th June at 12:50
Maximum Sunshine Hours= 11.6 hrs on 5th June
Total Sunshine Hours= 951.9 hrs

Maximum Radiation Exposure = 14.71 cpm ( 0.13 µSv) on 7th March
Minimum Radiation Exposure = 7.5 cpm ( 0.06 µSv) on 1st November