Apart from a few days of southeasterlies during the first week,
courtesy of a massive anticyclone (1064mbar) over NW Russia,
January 2008 was a very 'Atlantic' month, and from the 5th
onwards there was an almost unbroken succession of
depressions tracking either across the British Isles or just to
the north. As a consequence an enhanced SW-ly flow
affected the UK, with a marked cyclonic bias.

Mean pressure charts are available at:
Charts: http://www.climate-uk.com/monpre/0801.htm
The Monthly Review will shortly be uploaded to:
http://www.climate-uk.com/monthly/0801.htm
Graphs: http://www.climate-uk.com/graphs/0801.htm and
http://www.climate-uk.com/graphs/200801.htm
Not The Long Range Forecast should be available on 4th Feb on:
http://www.climate-uk.com/page4.html

The enhanced SW-ly flow shows up clearly on the mean sea-
level pressure chart ... indeed the flow extends across the North
Atlantic, western and northern Europe, and into the Russian
Arctic. The main centres are lows of 990mbar just WSW of
Iceland and 998mbar in the Barents Sea, and highs of 1030
mbar over Ukraine, 1026mbar over Morocco, and 1026mbar
south of the Azores. At the 500mbar level there was a broad
trough in mid-Atlantic with its axis around 30-40degW, and
abroad ridge over European Russia with its axis near
40-50 degE.

The sea-level pressure anomaly field has below-normal pressure
pver the British Isles, the northeast Atlantic and most of
Scandinavia, but above-normal pressure over southern and
eastern Europe, and over eastern Canada.

The main anomaly centres we
- 10mbar just west of Iceland
- 9mbar just NE of Shetland
+ 9mbar over Ukraine
+ 7mbar between the Azores and Bermuda

Over the British Isles pressure anomaly ranged from -1mbar
in Kent to -7mbar over the Western Isles and Shetland;
the anomalous flow over the British Isles was SW-ly.

CET (after Manley) 6.70°C (+2.5 degC wrt 1971-2000)
CET (after Hadley) 6.6 or 6.7°C
E&W Rain (provisional): 137.3mm (147% of 1971-2000 mean)
E&W Sunshine (prov): 52.0 hr ( 94% of 1971-2000 mean)

CScotT: 4.5°C (+1.2 degC)
ScotRain: 175mm (199%) - several records broken in
the Central Belt and the Northern Isles - more on
this later
ScotSun: 32hr ( 77%)

NIT: 6.3°C (+1.2 degC)
NI Rain: 137mm (162%)
NI Sun: 42hr ( 86%)

Rainfall totals ranged from 674mm at Inveruglas (Dunbartonshire)
to 49.8mm at Shoeburyness (Essex)

Percentages ranged from 368 at Gogarbank (Gtr Edinburgh) to
66 at Culdrose (Cornwall) [flagged as suspect]

Sunshine totals ranged from 82.3h at Kew Gardens (Gtr London) -
presumed KZ sensor - to 10.8h at Eskdalemuir (Dumfriesshire) -
KZ sensor.

Percentages ranged from 161 at Hampstead (Gtr London)
to 25 at Eskdalemuir

(c) Philip Eden