The month was fairly benign upto the 19th, during which time there had been little rain, some cool nights, but with day-time temperatures above average and a reasonable amount of sunshine - but then it changed, the final ten days was the 'weather' part of the month.

  Those last ten days began with the wettest period of the month, peaking with a particularly wet day on the 22nd which caused some flooding. The Lyvennet over-topped in Maulds Meaburn and came close to entering properties on Riverside and in Appleby the River Eden inundated The Sands. After this brief wet spell it turned cold with a slight wintry influence and the 30th saw Maulds Meaburn record the lowest temperature in the North-West region.

  The majority of the month had a mobile westerly type interspersed with short-lived northerlies. Whilst the month ran continuously cooler than average throughout, the mean maximum temperature actually held up above average throughout, only falling below average after a cold end to the month.

  During the month, there was one day of fog (22nd), one day with hail (23rd) and snow fell on three days (24-25th and 27th) - the 25th starting with a slight dusting of snow.

  MSLP of 1012.7 Mb was +1.9 Mb above the local average for November and apart from the mild and wet period of 20th-22nd pressure remained above 1000MB and was at its highest during the 13-19th.

  Overall a mean minimum of 1.37°c and a mean maximum of 8.68°c saw the temperature 0.9°c below the 1981-2010 average. It was the warmest since 2015 and of the nine now recorded, 3 have been colder and 5 warmer. The highest maximum temperature recorded was 12.8°c (21st), the lowest minimum -5.1°c (30th).

  Rainfall of 108.9 mm (Crosby Ravensworth School 118.3 mm  -  Castlehowe Scar 137.1 mm  -  Reagill 82.8 mm) was 80.4% of average for 2007-16 and made it the wettest November since 2015. Of the 11 now recorded 5 have been drier, 4 have been wetter and one was exactly the same.

  Locally, rainfall percentages were in the range of 80-90%, but once again Seathwaite bucked the trend and was slightly wetter than average. The 22nd was the wettest day across the county and whilst here at Maulds Meaburn it accounted for half of the month's total, at most sites it fell to around one quarter.

  At the Met' Office site at Newton Rigg, 89.4 mm (89.3%) made it the driest November since 2014 and in a series back to 1900, November has been drier in 65 years and wetter in 52 years (1yr of missing data - but which would have recorded in excess of 150 mm). A mean temperature of 4.95°c is the warmest since 2015 and in a series back to 1953, 18 have been colder and 46 have been warmer.

  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 73.2 mm (80.9 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 79.3 mm (91.9 mm)

  Brothers Water 236.55 mm (271 mm) and

  402.8 mm at Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale - 374 mm [average for 1981-2010])

    AUTUMN

   Here at Maulds Meaburn, autumn 2017 has been on the poor side of average. September was wet and cool with no day attaining 20°c. October saw average rainfall, but it was very mild and hence why the temperature ended so close to average as otherwise it would have been both wet and cold.

   Maulds Meaburn recorded 360.1 mm of rain (Crosby Ravensworth 402.2 mm) which makes it the wettest since 2012 and of the eleven now recorded 7 have been drier and 3 have been wetter. That 360.1 mm represents 109.8% of the rainfall for those 10 previous autumns.

   A mean temperature of 9.37°c is the warmest since 2015 and of nine now recorded 4 have been colder and 4 have been warmer. That 9.37°c makes the autumn of 2017 0.02°c colder than the average of those previous eight.

   At Newton Rigg rainfall totalled 284.4 mm and had a mean temperature of 9.15°c. In comparison to the 1981-2010 averages this represented 100.4 % of autumn rainfall and it was 0.05°c warmer than average.

   This makes the autumn of 2017 the 48th wettest in a series back to 1900 (2 yrs of missing data) and with 35 having been colder, 26 warmer and 3 having the same mean temperature in a series back to 1953.

  November

  1st - 6th    It was a relatively quiet start to the month with no single weather pattern gaining the upper hand. Whilst high pressure was never too far away, weak frontal systems over the UK were common, but not developed enough to bring anything more than some occasional light rain.

  High Pressure (HP) over the continent nudged west 1st-2nd and whilst the presence of weak fronts gave an overcast day on the 1st, the 2nd became a lovely sunny day. Cold fronts remained over the UK during the 3rd and the morning of the 4th, giving cloudy conditions, but once they had cleared it became brighter, but showery in a cooler W'ly flow.

  A large area of HP in the Atlantic would become a main feature for the next week, but initially it ridged strongly over the UK to give a lovely sunny day on the 5th, if a little cool in a W'ly breeze. Clear skies overnight into the 6th saw the day start with a sharp frost of -2.7°c and whilst the morning saw plenty of sun, the cloud increased during the day as a frontal system associated to LP near Iceland moved east towards the UK. Those fronts would bring drizzle in the evening followed by a spell of rain in the early hours of the 7th, giving 4.1 mm credited back to the 6th.

  7th - 19th    The general theme remained quiet and uneventful, albeit a little cooler with some frosts. The HP in the Atlantic became semi-static and would occasionally ridge over the UK, the rest of the time it was squeezed out by Atlantic fronts moving east-west across its top edge.

  Those fronts on the 7th saw the rain continue through the first part of the morning with the rest of the day overcast. The HP then ridged in behind the front, the skies cleared overnight and the temperature fell away with the 8th starting with a frost, -2.9°c. But the HP was short lived as fronts then pushed in, squeezing the HP south, which saw a sunny start to the day but with cloud increasing to give a little light rain from tea-time onwards. Thus the theme continued.

  Come the 11th there was a subtle change that would result in a blast of cold Arctic air. LP over the UK would clear away with HP in the Atlantic building behind to our west and coupled with several LP areas to the east, the result was the incursion of that cold Arctic air.

  The next few days saw the temperature tumble, 7.6°c on the 11th followed by a sunny but bitter 6.0°c (42.8°f) on the 12th. It felt bitter and after dark the temperature was quick to drop and overnight into the 13th there was a hard frost, -3.9°c (25°f). The 13th remained cold, but even the morning was cloudy as we would now revert to the theme of this period.

  With fronts over the UK the 14th was overcast with bits of drizzle followed by light rain in the evening. Calm and bright on the 15th before more fronts brought a little rain in the early hours of the 16th, the day then becoming sunny as the HP once again built behind those fronts.

  It was still on the cool side with a brisk W'ly over the top of the HP which was positioned just to the SW of Eire. The wind became more N'ly on the 18th before falling light overnight into the 19th.

  This saw clear skies with a nominal N'ly flow and the temperature did indeed plunge, falling to a low of -4.4°c (24.1°f) and as is this way, that temperature came about 0800 hrs on the 19th.

  The first 18 days of the month had only yielded 17.0 mm of rain, but now the theme of cool with little rain was to end - the cloud was building.

 

  20th - 23rd    A series of low pressure systems would control the following days, culminating in a deep and vigorous system bringing a notably wet day on the 22nd - this was easily the wettest and mildest period of the month.

  Initially LP elongated W-E over the UK with its associated fronts pushing up from the SW and then laying across the northern half of the UK into the 21st. Both the 20th and 21st were overcast with a mix of showers, drizzle and light rain, which saw 10.5 mm on the 20th (mainly falling overnight into the 21st) and then a further 10.2 mm on the 21st (which mainly fell overnight into the 22nd). With the southerly flow now established, the 21st became the month's warmest day at 12.8°c (55°f).

  Then it really got wet! Two LP systems converged on the UK, the principal one arriving from the SW and bringing a mild and moist airflow and which would centre over North Lancs and Cumbria and become slow moving. The rain on the 22nd started at 0500 hrs and continued unabated until the very end of the day. The rain was at its heaviest mid morning and the first few hours of the afternoon and many local roads became impassable to anything other than 4x4 with a high clearance and the River Lyvennet over-spilled its banks in several places.

  Whilst the final total of 54.5 mm is the wettest November day in my records, beating that of 2009 and the seventh wettest day in my records, it is only the second wettest day of 2017! Between 0900-1835 hrs a total of 41.0 mm rain had fallen.

  As the LP tracked away north, the pressure gradient started to slacken and the 23rd became a reasonable day come the afternoon, the morning having seen a number of showers, a few of which contained hail.

 

  1200 Hrs 22nd -   LP from the SW - a mild and moist flow brought a very wet day  

 

  24th - 30th    It then turned colder. The LP from the 22nd, which had tracked north, became semi static between Iceland and Norway and coupled with HP in the Atlantic the flow became NW'ly - we had both the first snow of the season and the first days to remain below 5°c.

  After the mildness of the previous days the temperature fell back to something more normal for the time of year and a hail shower on the 23rd gave a more wintry feel. The 23rd-25th saw plenty of sun interspersed by a few showers, which on the afternoon of the 24th fell as snow.

  A more pronounced snow shower in the evening gave a slight covering and which was still on the ground the following morning. Whilst enjoying some sunshine, the 25th was a cold and windy day and only reached a maximum temperature of 4.0°c (39.2°f).

  Milder on the 26th as a frontal system from off the Atlantic moved across the UK bringing a drizzly afternoon. Those fronts cleared during the 27th and restored the previous theme that had given us the cold weather.

  The final three days of the month were all cold and dry, but again with good sunny intervals. The HP gradually became the more dominant feature and as it became increasingly dominant the winds eased and the skies tended to clear at night. They were at their clearest overnight into the 30th and the temperature fell away to a month's low of -5.1°c (22.8°f) (ground frost of -8.0°c) and the day itself was sunny, but bitter cold. The mercury would only rise to 1.9°c which at this stage is the coldest day of 2017.

 

  0600 Hrs 30th -   high pressure that brought the cold end to the month.  

 

November Rainfall Anomalies %                                                                                    November Temp' Anomaly   

            

 

   Rainfall totalled 108.9 mm for the month, with rain recorded on 20 days of which 15 were 'Wet days' (1.0mm +).

   The Mean Temperature for the month was 5.03°c      --      The Mean Max' was   8.68°c     --      The Mean Min'   1.37°c.

   We had 11 Air Frosts in the month (year 45)                --      Grass frosts totalled 19 (year 92).

   The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 5.2°c on the 30th        to      a high of 10.4°c on the 1st - 2nd     --      with a monthly mean of 7.8°c

   The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 8.1°c on the 30th      to      a high of 11.2°c on the 1st     --     with a monthly mean of 9.7°c

 

COMPARISONS:-

   * November 2017 rainfall was 80.4% of the average for 2007 - 2016

   * November 2017 was 0.87°c colder than the average for 2009 - 2016 and 0.9°c colder than the local long term average 1981-2010

   * This makes the Jan' to November period of 2017 some 0.55°c warmer than the average for 2009-16 and with 91.5% of average rainfall for 2008-16

 

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OTHER ARTICLES

The Oldest Inhabitant    An Inch Of Scotch Mist   

 

© Darren Rogers 2010-17

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