I'd be surprised if the 1990 stat for Worcester is right Nick because in
1990 we had 9 air frosts during January in Coventry.

Steve, you may well be right as I am only going from memory and we know how
unreliable that can be!

I have spent the last hour rummaging around for my records from 1986-1993
but they seem to have gone missing. I reckon they could be in the loft
somewhere.

I did notice that January 2005 came close to having no frosts with only 3
very slight air frosts.

Dang it and darnation, where's me records!
________________
Nick G
Otter Valley, Devon
80 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

"Nick G" wrote in message
...
I'd be surprised if the 1990 stat for Worcester is right Nick because in
1990 we had 9 air frosts during January in Coventry.

Steve, you may well be right as I am only going from memory and we know how
unreliable that can be!

I have spent the last hour rummaging around for my records from 1986-1993
but they seem to have gone missing. I reckon they could be in the loft
somewhere.

I did notice that January 2005 came close to having no frosts with only 3
very slight air frosts.

Dang it and darnation, where's me records!

Jan 2005 was fairly mild in Haytor too Nick with only 3 days of snow falling and
5 air frosts. Max. snow depth a mere 1 cm with just 2 days of snow lying 50%
at 0900. Min. temp -1.2C.

But to answer the question Jan 1989 I think was very mild from memory but not
that wet in the south.

Will.
--

Graham wrote:

Looking at my average snow records I was quite amazed how January seems
to be getting much less in recent years.


It is extraordinary how little snow there has been here in January in
recent years. There were only 2 Januaries, at Dyce, with no lying snow
between 1945 and 1987, inclusive, but an incredible 8 out of 19 since
1988 have had no cover.

The average has declined from a peak of 11.1 days with snow lying
between 1958 and 1967 to only 1.6 days for 1997-2006. That compares
with 1.4 days for April between 1968 and 1977. The last January with as
much as 11 days of snow cover was in 1984.

The average was, however, only 4.7 days for 1946-55 and will have been
lower still during the 1920s and 30s but I doubt anywhere as low as
recently. Fortunately this is not the case with the other months and
overall I do not think there has been any decline in snowiness across
the past century. Recent years have been similar to the early 20th
Century but the period 1940-70 was considerably snowier.

Richard Slessor,
Aberdeen.

But to answer the question Jan 1989 I think was very mild from memory but not
that wet in the south.

Will.
--

ISTR it was practically bone dry in the south, as zonal as this month
but with much higher pressure.

Nick

wrote in message
oups.com...


But to answer the question Jan 1989 I think was very mild from memory but
not
that wet in the south.

Will.
--

ISTR it was practically bone dry in the south, as zonal as this month
but with much higher pressure.

Nick


You're right!
Worst January I can remember totally dull and boring in the south. At least 2007
looks like it will have plenty of action.

Will.
--

The only *Free* station data I can find for this neck of the woods for
January 1989 is Yeovilton & Newquay (Saint Mawgan), it's about time the
Met Office added some more locations, there isn't even one for Devon
when their Head Office is in the county.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...ata/index.html

Can I make a suggestion that they add Teigmouth, its records go back
over 40 years for my home town.

Anyway here's the data for January 1989, with links.

Yeovilton
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...viltondata.txt

Year Month Max Min Rain mm Sun hrs
1989 1 9.9 2.8 38 59.1


Newquay (St Mawgan)
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...mawgandata.txt

Year Month Max Min Rain mm Sun hrs
1989 1 10.1 5.3 61.2 72.2

"Richard Dixon" wrote :

wrote:
With the 15th-19th GFS this morning being more depressing than
yesterday's (albeit still with a block, but too far to the east to
affect anywhere west of Germany) it seems that the only thing of
interest this month would be to achieve the possible "record" above. I
can't think of a January which had *non stop* weather which was both
mild and wet - all examples I can think of either had a cold, dry
interlude or a mild but dry interlude (years like 1990 and 1995 spring
to mind here)

I'd be interested to see Philip's westerlies index for this one (if
I've got the terminology correct) !

I've made up a little graph showing the variation of the circulation
indices from 2002 to 2006 inclusive. It might take a few moments to
get your head round for anyone not familiar with the indices, but it's
fairly simple really.

The indices are in millibars and are based on the British Isles lat/long
block (i.e. 50-60N 00-10W), and the lines show 30-day moving
means.
http://www.climate-uk.com/temp6.htm
The graph ends with the 30-day period 2-31 Dec 2006

Philip

wrote in message
oups.com...
With the 15th-19th GFS this morning being more depressing than
yesterday's (albeit still with a block, but too far to the east to
affect anywhere west of Germany) it seems that the only thing of
interest this month would be to achieve the possible "record" above. I
can't think of a January which had *non stop* weather which was both
mild and wet - all examples I can think of either had a cold, dry
interlude or a mild but dry interlude (years like 1990 and 1995 spring
to mind here)

It doesn't quite answer your question, but here are the most
westerly and southwesterly Januarys in the dataset that I use,
which goes back to 1873. The westerliness index is the difference
in sea-level pressure between 50N and 60N in the longitude of the
British Isles (i.e. 00-10W), while the southwesterly index is simply
the difference in pressure between 50N 10W and 60N 00W.

Most westerly Januarys:
1983 27.6
1993 26.0
1916 24.4
1990 21.6
1944 21.3
1989 21.2
1928 21.1
1923 20.8
1949 20.6
1890 20.6
1975 20.0
1884 20.0

Most southwesterly Januarys:
1993 30.8
1983 30.0
1990 28.9
1890 27.4
1916 27.3
1974 26.4
1989 26.3
1932 26.2
1928 25.6
1975 25.2

Here's an interesting statistic: on average, a Jan with a SWly
index of 22.5 has a return period of 10 years. The longest periods
without reaching that threshold were 1873-1889 (17 years),
1947-1961 (15 years), and 1994 to date (13 years so far).

Philip Eden

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote:

It doesn't quite answer your question, but here are the most
westerly and southwesterly Januarys in the dataset that I use,
which goes back to 1873. The westerliness index is the difference
in sea-level pressure between 50N and 60N in the longitude of the
British Isles (i.e. 00-10W), while the southwesterly index is simply
the difference in pressure between 50N 10W and 60N 00W.

Spot the deliberate error ....

pe

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in message
...

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote:

It doesn't quite answer your question, but here are the most
westerly and southwesterly Januarys in the dataset that I use,
which goes back to 1873. The westerliness index is the difference
in sea-level pressure between 50N and 60N in the longitude of the
British Isles (i.e. 00-10W), while the southwesterly index is simply
the difference in pressure between 50N 10W and 60N 00W.

Spot the deliberate error ....

Should be 50N 10*E* for a southwesterly index?
--
Col

Bolton, Lancashire
160m asl