Amport Weather Notes

Weather Notes

Winter Weather – a bit of everything

The first three months of the year were characterised by much colder weather than in recent years, with a total of 32 night frosts (to add to the 14 in the last 3 months of 2008), the lowest temperature recorded in East Cholderton being –7.5°C (19°F) on the night of 6^th January. Snow fell on the night of 1^st February – only about 2 inches here – and although more fell on the next four nights, cold rain by day packed it down and partially thawed it so that there was never more than 4 inches of snow on level ground, and the last of it had gone by 12^th February. By that date, the first six weeks of the year had already given us over 7 inches of rain, but the next 6 weeks, to the end of March, were unusually dry with only 1.66 inches. This dry spell continued into the first week of April and, with fine warm weather and the temperature up to 16.5°C (62°F), hardly surprisingly, gardens and farmland became very parched, so the rain just before Easter was very welcome. DJSW May 2009

Rain, frost and snow in 2009

This is being written while we are still in the grip of the severest winter weather for many years, but my report is confined to 2009. Total 2009 rainfall, at just over 35 inches - very close to the yearly average – masks considerable variations. Up to the end of September there was a good deal less than usual, despite a wet July, and it looked as though we might see the Pillhill Brook dry up at Waterloo Bridge over the winter. But in the last 3 months of the year we recorded 15.65 inches of rain, November (7.9 inches) being once again the wettest month, as it has been eight times in the past 20 years. Newspapers reported that nationally we suffered the wettest July for many years but here we got away with it lightly with just over 3 inches in the month, compared with nearly 5 inches in July 2008. The coldest night of 2009 was on 6 January at -7.5. Two inches of snow fell overnight 1/2 February : more fell the next day, to make about 4 inches in all, but most of this had thawed within the week. The last frost came in early spring, on 30th March, though there were two near misses on 27 and 28 April. The first frost of Autumn blackened our dahlias on 18 October: it then turned mild until 1 December when we woke to white lawns and roofs, and from 16th December to the end of the year there were frosts nearly every night, with an inch or so of snow overnight 21/22 December. DJSW Feb 2010.

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