Only a mere 38.3 hours of sunshine recorded in the first 21 days of the
month. October has been extremely cloudy in this area. With Atlantic systems
expected to dominate the weather over at least the next week, there'll be
little opportunity for the meagre sunshine total to rise.
I guestimate the long term average for October in this area is around 80
hours for the whole month - and this October may be the dullest for a very
long time?
Are any other parts of the country expieriencing such a gloomy October?
Alex.

ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº
Conditions in Wishaw @ 12:46pm, 22/10/05
Temperature 8.7°C. Dew point 7.8ºC. 94.0%RH
Mean wind speed 7mph from the East North East.
Cloud cover: Broken
MSLP 1001.0mb, Rising.
Today's Max. 8.8°C at 12:14pm.
Today's min. 7.6°C at 7:16am.
Today's rain 1.2mm
Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland
N55º47'14", W3º55'15". 360ft/117m amsl
http://www.alex114.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/
ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº

Alex Stephens Jr wrote:
Only a mere 38.3 hours of sunshine recorded in the first 21 days of the
month. October has been extremely cloudy in this area. With Atlantic systems
expected to dominate the weather over at least the next week, there'll be
little opportunity for the meagre sunshine total to rise.
I guestimate the long term average for October in this area is around 80
hours for the whole month - and this October may be the dullest for a very
long time?
Are any other parts of the country expieriencing such a gloomy October?
Alex.

Hi, Alex,

Just 28.7hr so far here, normal is 102hr. It is so depressing isn't it!
Oh for some polar air to brighten things up. I think we are due more of
the same for ages yet - strong SW'lies with bands of rain and, yes you
guessed it, mild!

The grass just keeps growing and cutting it is most unpleasant as
everything is so damp. I expect I'm still grass cutting in November
this year - not a common site around here, mowers are usually packed
away by now.

We are still waiting for ground frost 100 of the year, stuck on 99.
This used to happen in June and only very occasionally early September.

Best wishes,

Ken Cook, Copley, 253metres, Nr Barnard Castle, County Durham
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/copley

In S Wales the total sunshine up to September 30th has exceeded the
yearly totals for most years in the 1960s, and exceeded the 1968 yearly
total by 200 hours, with 3 months to go so I suppose a bit of a dull
spell is only to be expected.

It seems to have been a very dull month here but I don't have a
sunshine recorder. The 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 13th and 14th have been
the only days with any prolonged sunshine while there were only two
days with any sunshine from the 9th to 16th. I was away from the 17th
to 21st but saw a few newspaper summaries and each time the amount of
sun was either 0 or 0.1 hour. Today was supposed to be a bright day but
there turned out to be very little sun.

Average for the whole month at Dyce is 97 hours. I'd estimate that
there has been only 40-50 hours so far which is, nevertheless, well
above the total for October 1960 (only 30 hours for the whole month).
Last Octobers total was just 72 hours. There is a fair chance that this
Octobers total will be even lower. If it is less than 75 hours it will,
I think, be the first time since before 1893 that two successive
Octobers have had fewer than 75 hours of sunshine. Also given this
weeks wet forecast it looks as though rainfall will end up at least 30%
above average for an incredible 5th October in only 6 years.

Despite this year having several prolonged dull spells, sunshine at
Dyce was 1239 hours up to the end of September compared with average of
1205 hours. By now it will have exceeded 1270 hours, which is more than
in the whole of 1964, 1965, 1966, 1968 and 1969. Unless November and
December are extremely dull this years sunshine total should exceed
1404 hours, which was the highest annual total of the 1960s (in 1960).
By comparison the lowest annual total for this decade, so far, has been
1407 hours (in 2002). Over 1700 hours were recorded in 2003.

Richard Slessor,
Aberdeen.