An historical perspective on the climate statistics
for Coventry during December 2007

Temperature

With an average temperature of 4.8°C, this December has been cooler
than the 30-year normal for Coventry (-0.2°C).

It has been much cooler than December 2006 (6.4°C), but milder than
2005 (4.4°C).

Four December months have been cooler than December 2007 in the past
10 years (1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005).

1995 (2.3°C) and 1996 (2.9°C) were our last “cold” December months,
while we have to go back to 1988 (7.4°C) to find the last really mild
December in our region.

With 12 air frosts locally during the month, this has seen the highest
incidence of air frost during December since 2001 (15). Just by
comparison, there were 27 air frosts in December 1950, but just 1 in
both 1988 and 1989.



Rainfall

Although this has been the wettest year in Coventry since 1912,
December has become the fifth drier than average month in succession
during 2007 in Coventry with 57.4mm of rain (8% below normal).

Only three December months have been drier than 2007 in the past 9
years (2001, 2004, 2005).

Mid-month, we enjoyed a 12 day long dry spell in our region (10th to
21st inclusive); by comparison, in our 115 year long data series, the
longest December dry spell lasted 16 days in both 1892 and 1939.

For the second December in succession, there was no reported snowfall
in Coventry during December 2007. Although by tradition, not the
snowiest month of the year locally, only five December months have
been snow-free in the city in the past 30 years.

By comparison, there were 13 days with snow fall in Coventry as
recently as 1995, and 14 in 1981 – these are our snowiest Decembers on
record (to 1892).



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Sunshine

Although the December sunshine total (58.7hr) was 22% higher than the
1971-2000 average for Coventry, this is well short of the December
record total of 85.9 hours of sunshine recorded during December 2001.

Despite recording just under a quarter more sunshine than normal last
month however, such has been the increase in December sunshine in the
past 30 years, that only two December months have been duller than
2007 in the past eight years (2002 & 2006).

Days of special note during December 2007 include:



• 5th There was hail and thunder during a passing squall on this day;
it was our first thunder event in the city during any December since
1999, and only the fifth day with thunder heard during December since
1972.

• 6th The mildest day of the month (14.6°C) was the warmest December
day in Coventry since 1994 (14.9°C). Just out of interest, only six
December days have been milder than the 6th of December 2007 since
1892 (in 1910, 1915, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1994)

• 20th On this night, we recorded a grass minimum temperature of
-10.4° C; this is the lowest such reading in the city during December
since 1995 (-10.5°C).

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