Hi, everyone,

Sunny skies, light winds and a screen high of 14.2C on the AWS. I'll
confirm the high at the 1800Z ob. on the official thermometers. The low
this morning was 2.0C with -3.0C on the grass.

Previous high in December in Copley (253metres) was 12.6C in 1998.

December screen high at my previous MO station in Low Etherley
(158metres) was 14.0C with records back to 1970.

Clearly an exceptional day in NE England and one for the GW brigade.

ATB,

--
Ken Cook, Copley (5miles north of Barnard Castle), County Durham.
830ft
http://mysite.freeserve.com/copley
(MO climat. site updated before 10Z and 19Z daily)
kencookATcopleydurham.freeserve.co.uk


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 02/12/03

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 14:28:07 -0000, Ken Cook wrote:

Sunny skies, light winds and a screen high of 14.2C on the AWS.

Max of 12.1C up here and a lovely day as well.

Hefty inversion first thing. Reasonable ground frost down in Alston
and decidely nippy in the air, no ground frost with us and about 6C.
Looked at Great Dunn Fell and that was showing 12C!

--
Cheers Dave.
Nr Garrigill, Cumbria. 421m ASL. pam is missing e-mail

"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message Max of 12.1C
up here and a lovely day as well.

Hefty inversion first thing. Reasonable ground frost down in Alston
and decidely nippy in the air, no ground frost with us and about 6C.
Looked at Great Dunn Fell and that was showing 12C!

Hi, Dave,

I noticed that one also. "Official" max was 14.3C here, a new December
record for me. I see Leeming was just 8C max.

These inversion days are wonderful, aren't they - it was definitely warm
enough for shorts this afternoon!

ATB,

--
Ken
http://mysite.freeserve.com/copley
kencookATcopleydurham.freeserve.co.uk


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.547 / Virus Database: 340 - Release Date: 02/12/03

On Fri, 5 Dec 2003 18:20:10 -0000, Ken Cook wrote:

These inversion days are wonderful, aren't they

Provided your on top. Not so nice in the freezing fog down in the
valley bottoms. I've seen that, glorious morning bright sunshine in a
cloudless sky up here, go to Penrith and it's 100m freezing fog and a
hard frost.

- it was definitely warm enough for shorts this afternoon!

I wouldn't go that far, though I did slightly over dress with
pullover, fleece and windproof coat to go out looking for the ISS at
1630. Didn't really need the windproof coat.

The temp here seems to have steadied off around 5C againWe seem to
have steadied of at 5C. damn, broadband is down can't see what GDF
is reporting now, it was still up at 13/12C 1800/1900...

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In message , Dave
Liquorice writes
Provided your on top. Not so nice in the freezing fog down in the
valley bottoms. I've seen that, glorious morning bright sunshine in a
cloudless sky up here, go to Penrith and it's 100m freezing fog and a
hard frost.

We travelled over to Newcastle on the Roman Wall road around lunchtime
on Friday - bright and sunny, but looking down onto a layer of fog. We'd
had a very red sunrise that morning, and were treated to an incredibly
beautiful sunset as we left Newcastle later, heading for Darlington.
After thinking it was quite mild there, I was surprised to feel a cold
wind when we got back home and thought there was a hint of a helm bar
over the Pennines.

--
Anita Evans
North Cumbria
(anita[at]ra.evans.clara.co.uk to reply by e-mail)

"Anita Evans" wrote

After thinking it was quite mild there, I was surprised to feel a cold
wind when we got back home and thought there was a hint of a helm bar
over the Pennines.

I hesitate to suggest it, but there is a little misunderstanding there. The
exceptional warmth in NE England was caused by a westerly wind (and Foehn
effect to the east of the Pennines) The helm bar (to the west of the main
ridge of the Pennines) only occurs with easterly winds. Any wave bar Anita
might have seen was probably generated by the Cumbrian Mountains to the
west.

Jack

On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 18:26:10 -0000, Jack Harrison wrote:

The exceptional warmth in NE England was caused by a westerly wind
(and Foehn effect to the east of the Pennines)

Well, there wasn't much westerly wind on Friday up here, mostly NE'ly.
Admittedly the warm peak was during a brief westerly period of a
couple of hours but the rest of the day was unseasonably warm at 5C.

Would the Foehn effect affect us up on the hill? Must wander off and
find a lay persons description of the Foehn effect...

The helm bar (to the west of the main ridge of the Pennines) only
occurs with easterly winds.

If there wasn't a Helm yesterday their might be one now. We are in an
E'ly F2 to F3 and more seasonal temperature of 2 to 3C.

--
Cheers
Dave. pam is missing e-mail

In message , Jack
Harrison writes
I hesitate to suggest it, but there is a little misunderstanding there. The
exceptional warmth in NE England was caused by a westerly wind (and Foehn
effect to the east of the Pennines) The helm bar (to the west of the main
ridge of the Pennines) only occurs with easterly winds. Any wave bar Anita
might have seen was probably generated by the Cumbrian Mountains to the
west.

Hi Jack,
There wasn't a pronounced bar as I have seen on several occasions, but
the wind was blowing cold in my face as I got out of the car (early
afternoon) and I was looking more or less to the east. Quite a contrast
to the mildness in Darlington. Possibly just a local effect - I was too
distracted with other things today to really take notice - just remember
commenting on the fact that it was surprisingly cold!
--
Anita Evans
North Cumbria
(anita[at]ra.evans.clara.co.uk to reply by e-mail)

One aspect of Foehn (mountain wave) situations is that the surface wind
direction can be reversed beneath a rotor. This is very well known to
glider pilots but nevertheless, accidents have happened. I came to grief in
a minor way at Aboyne many years ago. The SW wave was very good (I had just
been up to over 25,000 feet). I had taken off from the westerly runway, but
when I came to land some three hours later, the surface wind was now a
howling SE'ly or even E'ly. I was well aware of the abrupt change in wind
direction, so I decided to land in a field where I could have a better
into-wind approach. Shall we say that the fierceness of the rotor gustiness
dumped me on the ground in a somewhat undignified manner and minor damage
occurred to the glider.

As a broad guide to winds in wave/Foehn conditions, the surface wind is
lightest under the crest of the wave, strongest at the bottom of the trough
(where in effect the wind is pressed against the surface). This is only a
general guide and there are many local effects. But I add this by way of
explanation as to why with that exceptional warmth in NE England (basically
an upper wind with a westerly component), there undoubtedly would have been
some places where the local wind was very light or even reversed. Of
course, now that the anticyclone has moved its location, there is a totally
different wind pattern today in any case.

Another place where I have experience of Foehn conditions was when I used to
fly in and out of Innsbruck. That could be very rough, even in a 40 tonne
jet aircraft, with tail winds at each end of the runway. Fun. I loved it.
Good old days.

Jack