An historical perspective on the climate statistics
for Coventry during December 2006

Temperature

With an average monthly temperature of 6.4C, 1.4C above the 30-year
mean for Coventry (1971-2000), this has been the mildest December
locally since 1988 (7.4C).

Looking back through the record books, we find that only three December
months have been milder than 2006 in the past 35 years (1974, 1985 &
1988).

With city temperature records dating back to 1892, December 2006 ranks
11th equal in this 114 year series.

The mildest days of the month (4th & 29th) were the warmest December
days in Coventry since 2000 (13.6C).

***It is somewhat surprising to note however, that in these days of
global warming, there has been a marked absence of really mild December
days locally; we have to go back to 1915 to find the last daily maximum
above 15C, whilst the record for this month stands at a staggering
18.9C as long ago as 1899, well before any concerns about the so-called
enhanced greenhouse effect!***

There were just 5 air frosts in Coventry this month (four less than
normal), but only 4 as recently as 2002; just out of interest the city
has never has a frost free December with just 1 air frost being the
lowest incidence in 1989.

We would expect 15 ground frosts during an average December, but only
managed 8 in 2006; the lowest incidence of ground frosts at this time
of year was 7 in 2002.

Rainfall

By the end of Boxing Day, there was a local rainfall deficit of 20%
compared to 30-year averages, despite the wet first half of the month
in Coventry. A nine day spell of dry weather, with just fog drip in the
rain gauge, had reduced the rainfall total well below normal.

Thanks however to a wet end to the month, with 38% of the month's
rainfall total (71.0mm) falling in the last 5 days, December 2006
became the wettest month at this time of year since 2002 (92.8mm).

Only two December months have been wetter than 2006 in the past decade
(2000 & 2002).

December 2006 has become the first December since 1992 without any
snowfall; we would normally expect 3 days with snowfall at this time of
year. Looking at the records however, we find that this is by no means
unusual locally; as there have been 31 December months without any
recorded snowfall since 1892.

There were no mornings with snow lying on the ground in the city during
December, the first time this has happened since 2002, though once
again, this would appear to be the norm in our region, with 68 December
months without any lying snow in the past 114 years.

Sunshine

With just 52.6 hours of sunshine this has been the dullest December in
Coventry since 2002 (35.1 hours).

Only two December months have been duller than this in the past 14
years, even though this year's sunshine total is still % above the
30-year city average.

The sunniest day of the month (17th) only managed 5.7 hours of sunshine
- this is the lowest total for December's sunniest day since 1989
(5.2hr). However, the lowest reading for the sunniest day of December
was in 1902 with just 3.0 hours, though this was almost 50% of the
whole month's sunshine!

We had three mornings of thick fog during December 2006, the highest
incidence of fog at this time of year since 1994 (4). Just out of
interest, there were 10 foggy mornings during December 1934.

As a further note of interest, we experienced our first December gales
(3rd) since 2000, when there were two such "gale days". The highest
number of December gales was in 1954 and 1974 with 4 days of gale force
winds.



Steve Jackson
Bablake Weather Station
Coventry UK
www.bablakeweather.co.uk