Cold, wintry at times, below average rainfall with above average sunshine - a fine autumnal month.
Overall November was a decent month and in many ways just what the last month of autumn should be like. Whilst it was much colder than average with overnight frosts both common and hard at times, it was also much drier than average and despite some wintry weather, there were a good number of decent sunny days, especially the 1st-2nd and then 23rd-26th, the latter in particular being quite glorious.
The 2cms of snow that lay on the ground of the morning of the 9th is the earliest such date to record a 'day of laying snow' at this site. Rain on 20 days during the month may seem slightly high, but two of those were just from a large accumulation of frost (melted) and the rain/snow that we did have was never that significant, at its heaviest during the 16-18th.
MSLP of 1014.9 Mb was +4.1 Mb above the local average for November, with high pressure more frequent, but never truly established until the final week of the month, when the sun shone that little bit more and the frosts were are their hardest.
Overall a mean minimum of 0.12°c and a mean maximum of 7.16°c saw the temperature 2.3°c below the 1981-2010 average and it was the coldest November yet recorded at this site (the coldest of the 8 now recorded). The highest maximum temperature recorded was 14.4°c (14th), the lowest minimum -5.7°c (26th).
Rainfall of 77.1 mm (Crosby Ravensworth School 84.7 mm - CastleHowe Scar 94.0 mm and Reagill 87.6 mm) made it the driest November since 2013 (the 3rd driest of 10 recorded) and was 54.3% of average for 2007-15. Locally, rainfall percentages were typically in the range of 75% of normal, but a few places did record just over 100% of average.
At the Met' Office site at Newton Rigg, 95.4 mm (95.3%) made it the driest November since 2014 and in a series back to 1900 there have been 68 drier and 48 wetter (with incomplete data for 1 year - but which would have recorded in excess of 150 mm). In a series back to 1953 a mean temperature of 3.55°c is the coldest since 1993 and is the 5th coldest in that time (but nowher near as cold as the 1.08°c of 1915 or the 1.69°c of 1919).
Figures from the Environment Agency’s rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1961-90) ‘Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)’:
Kirkby Thore 88.2 mm (80.9 mm)
Brothers Water 192.11 mm (271 mm)
Nunwick Hall 89.2 mm (79.5 mm) - and
291.2 mm at Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale - 374 mm [average for 1981-2010])
AUTUMN
Here at Maulds Meaburn, autumn 2016 has been quite decent. September was unduly warm, yet November was equally as cold with October virtually average. Rainfall has been notably less than average, October being especially dry and only September was wetter than average.
Maulds Meaburn recorded 200.6 mm of rain (Crosby Ravensworth 225.2 mm) has been the driest since 2007 and is the 2nd driest of the ten now recorded. That 200.6 mm represents 58.7% of the rainfall for those 9 previous autumns.
A mean temperature of 9.04°c is the coldest since 2012 and is the 3rd coldest of the eight autumn's now recorded. That 9.04°c makes the autumn of 2016 0.4°c colder than the average of those previous seven.
At Newton Rigg rainfall totalled 218.4 mm and had a mean temperature of 9.02°c. In comparison to the 1981-2010 averages this represented 77.1 % of autumn rainfall and it was 0.1°c colder than average.
This makes the autumn of 2016 the 33rd driest in a series back to 1900 (2 yrs of missing data) and with 28 having been colder, 31 warmer and 4 having the same mean temperature in a series back to 1953.
November
1st - 2nd The month opened with a cold front moving north-south overnight into the 1st, but with high pressure (HP) in the Atlantic building behind. This all resulted in a cool northerly flow being introduced, but with two fine sunny days. In the sun the temperature rose to 9.7°c on the 1st, but under clear skies the 2nd started with a frost of -2.1°c.
3rd - 4th The next two days would see the HP migrating east and allowing low pressure (LP) NW of Scotland to push fronts over the UK, although this only brought a few showers and/or occasional light rain.
5th - 11th The LP would now drift away east, albeit never too far away and with HP in the Atlantic trying to nudge east, the result was a northerly airflow - it suddenly felt a little wintry and the days had a rather raw feel about them.
The first snow of the season fell on the 6th, a 20 minute blast at 0830 hrs with the day struggling to 4.8°c. The HP slowly nudged east on the 7th which saw a little hail in the afternoon. The wind then abated and the 8th started with a sharp frost of -4.1°c (24.6°f) with the day itself only seeing a maximum of just 3.6°c. It was also accompanied by a spell of sleet in the afternoon and then again in the evening and it was definitely a sense of winter having arrived a little early this year.
And then if snow laying on the ground is one of the true signs of winter, we got it on the 9th. LP west of Wales pushed an occlusion east and created a 'collision' between its milder air and the cold pool of air already over the UK. This resulted in sleet from the 8th steadily turning to snow overnight into the 9th and the day started with a 2cm covering of snow - the earliest date in my records to record a 'Day of Laying Snow'.
The LP then moved across the UK and out into the North Sea before HP would once again ridge in.
0000 Hrs 9th - the occlusion that gave the season's first significant snowfall and 'Day of Laying Snow'
12th - 14th After a frontal system had crossed the UK overnight into the 12th, HP built from the SW. Those fronts left an overcast morning on the 12th before gradually brightening, but fronts trailing off from LP to the north of Iceland would always maintain some cloud and occasional rain, and now with a mild southerly flow, the 14th at 14.4°c would be the month's warmest day.
15th - 22nd
Initially mild at the start of the period, it would then see a return to something a little bit more wintry.
The 15th saw us at the northern edge of the HP which had earlier been squeezed south by LP in the Atlantic and with a milder SW'ly flow the temperature remained above average. The overnight minimum of 9.8°c into the 15th was much warmer than many of the day-time maximums we had had so far, however, by the 18th the day-time maximum would be down to 3.7°c as the airflow would then originate from the Arctic.
After the 15th the temperature took a gradual tumble, but a succession of fronts brought spells of rain and/or sleet and even a little dusting of snow to greet both the 18th and 19th. The 17th with 12.9 mm, mainly having fell as rain during the afternoon, would become the month's wettest day and was followed by 11.1 mm on the 18th, this being a mix of everything.
By the 19th the LP that had brought the previous days rain had moved away and the pressure gradient slackened and after sunny intervals and showers on the 19th, the 20th saw some decent sunny intervals but was and felt cold as the wind swung NW'ly. Storm Angus passed us by to the south on the 20th as we still sat within a slack pressure gradient and with clear skies we entered a period of very cold nights.
A low of -3.9°c overnight into the 21st was followed by an overcast day ahead of LP gradually pushing up from the south, but not giving more than a little light rain. It did ensure that the 22nd would be the one day that started frost free, but it was also dark and overcast until the LP exited out into the North Sea.
23rd - 30th Now we became blessed with brilliant autumnal weather, perfect sunny days, but very cold at night and in the shade, the frost would persist all day.
HP in the Atlantic would briefly ridge over the UK, but quickly becoming firmly established and resulted in dry, calm and glorious sunny days. Yes it was a little chilly, especially by night, -3.8°c on the 24th was followed by -4.0°c on the 25th and it remained below freezing well into the morning, but it was simply glorious, best typified on the 25th which remained cloudless all day.
Those glorious cloudless skies from the 25th stayed that way overnight into the 26th and now we had an even harder frost, in fact the coldest night of the year. The mercury fell to -5.7°c (21.7°f) and then the temperature remaining below freezing virtually to midday, but once again it was perfectly sunny.
After this more in the way of cloud became trapped within the HP resulting in slightly milder nights with the days being fairly bland, but with temperatures still below the seasonal norm'. However, the 29th still saw a harsh frost as the HP remained in charge, having now elongated east-west across the UK.
1200 Hrs 30th - the high pressure dominant over the UK at the month's end
Rainfall totalled 77.1 mm for the month, with rain recorded on 20 days of which 13 were 'Wet days' (1.0mm +).
The Mean Temperature for the month was 3.64°c -- The Mean Max' was 7.16°c -- The Mean Min' 0.12°c.
We had 15 Air Frosts in the month (year 55) -- Grass frosts totalled 21 (year 109).
The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 3.6°c on the 25-26th to a high of 10.7°c on the 1st -- with a monthly mean of 6.6°c
The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 7.3°c on the 30th to a high of 11.2°c on the 2nd -- with a monthly mean of 9.2°c
COMPARISONS:-
* November 2016 rainfall was 54.3% of the November average for 2007 - 2015
* November 2016 was 2.58°c colder than the November average for 2009 - 2015 and 2.3°c colder than the local long term average 1981-2010
* 2015 Jan - Nov TEMP 8.88°c -- RAIN 1091.9 mm
* 2014 Jan - Nov TEMP 10.08°c -- RAIN 1250.9 mm
* 2013 Jan - Nov TEMP' 8.75°c -- RAIN 961.4 mm
* 2012 Jan - Nov TEMP' 8.74°c -- RAIN 1175.7 mm
* 2011 Jan - Nov TEMP' 9.60°c -- RAIN 1125.3 mm
* 2010 Jan - Nov TEMP' 8.29°c -- RAIN 678.6 mm
* 2009 Jan - Nov TEMP' 9.50°c -- RAIN 1171.5 mm
* 2008 Jan - Nov TEMP' -- RAIN 1290.0 mm
This makes the Jan' to Nov' period of 2016 0.05°c warmer than the average for 2009-15 and with 91.2% of average rainfall for 2008-15
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