The old year ended with 3 frosty nights, and the new year began with 3 wet days so the total for the last week is 49mm giving a December total of 49.5 mm - an unusually dry December for us. The last time it happened was 2010 but it was very much colder right through the month and we had some snow as well.

2014

Total rainfall for the year was 1298mm making it the 6th highest yearly total in the last 25 years. The wettest month was January with 206mm and only 4 dry days. Rainfall was fairly average until we reached August when we had 170 mm which managed to spread right though the month so we only had 7 dry days - not appreciated by many as it was the school holidays.
This was at least followed by a dry September, but October and November were wet - hence our fairly high total for the year.

Looking back over the last year one thing of note is the wind which seem to be much more variable in direction than it used to be. We are now having North and East wind much more often than we did in the past when the wind always seemed to be from the West.

July gave us a record spell of dry hot weather with temperatures rising up to the high 20°Cs and even nudging 30°C at times.
I went to Northumbria for a few days and it was as warm up there as it was here, so perhaps we'll have some more this year. Otherwise, a fairly normal year, as unpredictable as ever, and who really wants it any different.

Again very little rain this week - only 12mm. It's certainly turning out to be a dry month and the temperature fluctuates between bitterly cold and and 9°C or 10°C, so still no snow and only light frosts so far.

Christmas day was dry and even sunny part of the time, so nice day for a walk, and, although it doesn't seem any lighter in the mornings yet, I've noticed it is slightly lighter in the afternoon.

21mm of rain this week with rain on 4 days and some frost. The temperature dropped to below zero on Tuesday morning and it remained cold all day. However, in the evening it started to warm up and we had a higher temperature through the night than we had in the day.

The weather seems to be unusually mild at the moment but how long it will continue I cannot say. We had a mild winter last year, and so far, this year has followed the same pattern. We may have a change as we go into January.

Another week with only a little rain - 14mm - and again a lot of cloud about making it look worse than it was. There was some mist and fog about early in the morning but it soon cleared but on some days the low cloud and drizzle hung about all day, making it very dark and unpleasant.

The only rain in this last week was 2mm on the 6th, so rainfall total for November was 169mm. It rained on 21 days, so we could do with a dry spell, as October was fairly wet as well.

December averages are: over 10 years 120mm, and over 20 years 122mm. The wettest December was 1999 with 206mm and the driest 2010 with only 22mm, when it rained only on 2 days, but we had frost on 22 nights and snow in the middle of the month.

Christmas day has been dry in the last 10 years 6 times. The day I always look forward to in December - the shortest day - is the 21st, then, as we go into the new year, it will start to get a bit lighter.

In spite of it being damp and overcast until the end of the week, we only had 13mm of rain in total. On Friday we had a change when it was dryer and colder, with a brisk East wind and much brighter - a very welcome improvement, which I hope will last for a while at least as we need a change. I don't mind it being a bit colder if it stops raining for a while.

The rainfall this week was 47mm and it rained every day. We've only had one day without rain this month. It's certainly turning out to be a wet November. The amount already exceeds the amount in 2013. I hope we are not heading for floods again - we haven't got of the last one yet.

61mm of rain this week - only 1 dry day so very little sunshine, and so much low cloud the days seemed shorter than ever. The temperature has been dropping quite low sometimes in the early morning before it starts to get light - down to 1.9°C on Wednesday, our only dry day of the week. Hoever, the temperature reached 10°C before lunch and we even had a bit of sunshine later.

26mm of rain in the last week of October - although most of this week's rain was on the 1st of November. The total rainfall for October was 135mm with rain on 21 days, so an average month really - rain nearly every day but still some sunshine between - quite pleasant at times - and still fairly warm for the time of year.

On to November. I always feel this is a bit of miserable month. It's usually a bit gloomy and overcast, getting darker day by day. The average rain is over 10 years121mm and over 20 years 119mm, so not much difference there. This is sometimes the month we get our first frost, but more often in December or January.

The last year we had frosts in November was 2010, when we had a very cold spell through November and December and on into January, yet last year we had no frosts at all. So we will just have to wait and see what happens.

Only 10mm of rain in the last week, so the similarity to last October is fading fast. Last October it carried on raining right until the end of the month, and into November. Although we”ve had quite a lot of cloud in the last week, there wasn't much rain, and we did have some windy weather, especially on Monday.

Big change next week with the clock being back an hour - we”ll really notice how quickly it gets dark in the afternoon, particularly if it's cloudy.

Rain every day this week, giving a total of 63mm. Although it has been quite chilly at times and we have had a cold wind, it's been a fairly good Autumn, very similar to last year - roughly the same amount of rain, up until now anyway, and, as last year, no frost yet.

Quite a change this week with some rain every day, 43mm in all and a bit chilly as well, especially in the early morning.

The clocks will go back 1 hour on the 25/26th of this month which will make a difference for a week or two, but we"ll soon get used
to the change as we usually do .

The end of the month also seems finally to be the end of summer. The weekend brought our first real rain since August - 12mm. Total rainfall in September was 9.5mm the lowest it's been for more than 25 years, but I don't think we will be short of water - remember the 170mm we had in August and all though we had reasonable amounts of rain this summer we also had plenty of
sunshine.

October average rainfall is 133 mm over the last 10 years and over the last 20 years 126mm, so once again not much difference. The wettest October was last year - 2013 - 196.5mm, when we had rain on 25 days and the driest was 1995 with 62mm when it rained on 7days.

I think of this month as the start of the time when rainfall is in surplus and our water sources can start to refill as the leaves are falling we will have much lower temperatures. Growth has slowed down and we won't be watering the garden. So although it may seem to always be raining, think of next Spring, when the cycle starts again.

A dry week again - only 2 mm of rain. This is turning out to be the driest September for a long while. Some fog in the early morning but it's soon gone in the sunshine. On Thursday the wind swung back to the west which usually means a change in the weather and it was damp and overcast on Friday but on Saturday it was summery again.

The fine dry weather seems to go on and on, at least for us no torrential storms here. We had some thunder mainly in the early hours of the 19th and the odd rumble on other occasions ,but the total rainfall for the week was only 3.5mm. Not much wind either so I don't see much change likely until the wind goes back to the West again the East wind is usually a sign of dry weather for us.

No rain at all this week, fine and sunny until Thursday then it became much more cloudy, and all though it cleared later and we had sunshine it was sometimes quite late in the afternoon before it brightened up, which made it noticeably cooler.

A nice week weather wise for the start of September. There was some mist and low cloud on a couple of mornings but we had sunshine later, and only 5mm of rain all week, so if you want your pots and tubs to keep flowering through September they will need to be kept watered. I like to keep the best ones into October if I can, but I also like to get some planted up ready for the early spring, and a couple of winter ones using violas, cyclamen, ferns, heathers and something with berries for Christmas.

August was a bit of a disappointment after the lovely weather in June and July, The rainfall was 170.5mm spread over 23 days but it was mainly showers so we had sunshine inbetween and the temperature held up fairly well.

September has started well with plenty of warm sunshine and I hope it continues. this is the month that can be fine and warm and dry as in 2003 with rain on only 4 days, or really terrible as it was in 2000 when we had rain on 18 days - 182mm - not much fun for anyone. The average rainfall for September is over 10 years 85mm and over 20 years 92mm, so hopefully the rain will not be as much above the average as August.

Rain on 6 days out of 7 this week, varying from 2mm up to 14mm giving a total of 43mm for the week. I think it's warmed up slightly towards the weekend as the national forecast told us ,but it quite chilly in the early mornings now and the temperature soon drops in the evening too and does,nt it get dark early now especially when its cloudy.

Plenty of cloud this week, but we only had showers on 3 days unlike other areas where they had much rain than the 15mm that fell here.

We did have some sunshine but it was very changeable and at times it felt as if Autumn had arrived, the lowest nightime temperature was 6°C and we also had a chilly breeze from the East on a couple of days, but I'm sure it will warm up again next week I hope so any way.

There's been rain every day this last last week - a total of 57mm - so quite a change. Some very heavy showers which lasted mostly only for a few minutes, especially on Monday and Tuesday, but were enough to be a nuisance if you were trying to get the laundry dry.

Much cooler overnight now, and darker in the early morning too. Temperatures are dipping to single figures by 6am now, although they're still rising quite fast when we do have some sunshine.

There was 31.5 mm of rain in the past week, so a bit of a change from the last week or two. Still warm, but not as warm as it has been - the showers soon cooled it down a bit.

I hear that hurricane Bertha is still going to bring us heavy showers and strong to gale force winds, but it does seem to be taking longer and longer to get here so it probably wont be as bad as predicted, at least not in this area anyway.

A dry week until Friday, then 23mm of rain for the start of August. The temperature held up in the low 20s until Saturday when it slid down to 19.8°C. Whether it will be so warm in August rather depends on how much low cloud and rain we have.

Total rainfall in July was 46mm and we had plenty of sunshine. In fact July 2014 was very similar to July 2013 in both rain and temperature.

But it looks as if we are heading for a change - I”ve just read that a storm crossing the Atlantic is possibly going to reach us at the weekend bringing high winds and rain.

August does usually bring us more showery weather than the previous 2 months, with the average over 10 years 103mm and over 20 years 96mm. The driest August was 1995 with only 9mm spread over 3 days, and the wettest was 1997 with 179mm but, while it rained only on 8 days we had some very heavy storms.

The year seems to be flying by even faster than usual we”ll be into Autumn before we know it !

Another dry week with plenty of sunshine and the temperature again in the mid 20°Cs: Sunday 23.4°C, Monday 22.8°C,
Tuesday 24.8°C, Wednesday 26.6°C, Thursday 26.8°C, Friday 26.3°C, and Saturday 25.6°C.

How much longer can it last ? and still no complaints or warnings about shortages from our water board - amazing !
I ve just spent a few days in Northumbria where the weather was the same as ours - dry with the temperature around 25°C plus, on a couple of days it went up to 28°C, a bit of a surprise for everyone in a part of the country not known for its tropical weather.

The scenery was as always fantastic and on this visit I was able to cross to Lindisfarne and fulfil a long held wish to see this early Christian site which more than met my expectations.

Yet again another week of warm sunny weather with only 22mm of rain but the promised heat wave did not materialise. The following are the maximum temperature on each day: Wednesday 23.6°C, Thursday the warmest day 26°C, Friday 22.8°C
and Saturday 20.2°C.

We also seem to have missed the worst of the thunder storms as well - I know we had some, but it was fairly subdued and I haven't heard of any damage.

I heard on the long range forecast that this fine weather is set to continue.

Another week of fine almost dry weather only 14mm of rain in spite of the forecast promising us rain a number of times. It never materialised here, although nearby areas seemed to have more. A fine day for the Fete again - we seem to be very lucky weather- wise at the present time, after the bad floods we had a couple of years ago. These shouldn't happen again after all the remedial work is finished.

9.5 mm of rain this week, mostly on Friday the 4th. The weather does seem to be breaking up a bit now but it may settle again.

June's rainfall was slightly below average with 68mm and we had a dry spell from the 10th until the 25th with temperatures up to 27/28°C. I hope there is still some more fine weather to come.

On to July, been a bit of a disappointment over the last 10 years with 2007, 2009 and 2012 all giving us over 200mm of rain for the month. Other years' rainfall has not been a lot better, so the average over 10 years is 131mm and over 20 years 83mm.

July weather was much drier between 1993 and 2003 than the last 10 years, but last year July was good with a long spell of fine dry weather so perhaps we will have the same this year.

Only 19mm of rain this week otherwise sun sun and more sun. There has been some cloud and the odd roll of thunder in the distance, but we haven't had any torrential rain showers either - once again they all seemed to have missed us. We are lucky - or not - depending on whether you want rain or not.

I hear that the allotment is very dry now, and some of our gardens are showing signs of stress as well . The temperature has been up to the mid 80°Cs regularly, but the humidity is fairly low so it hasn't been uncomfortable.

No rain recorded this week, some cloud at times, but not much. Otherwise sunshine every day with temperatures climbing to 30°C at times.

Very light winds through June means little change in the weather is expected yet. It is not as dry as 1995 or 1996 with only 4mm and 9mm respectively. So I'm sure our water butts will be filled soon enough and once the weather does change we are unlikely to get a long spell of fine weather again this summer.

Following thundery showers mid afternoon on the 8th, and an early shower on the 9th, no more rain fell this week giving a total of 14mm. We have enjoyed sunny days and warm nights - the warmest day was Thursday with temperatures in the low 80°Cs Fahrenheit, but in spite of the heat, no thunderstorms yet.

35mm of rain, mainly on Wednesday, 4th when it rained all day and into the evening. Otherwise a good week with warm sunshine and temperatures in the low to mid 20s°C.

There was rain on 5 days this week, but again small amounts - only11mm for the whole week - so just a nuisance really as it wasn't enough to avoid watering. The total rainfall for May was 90.5mm so, very slightly above average. Rain fell on 16 days, but 7 of them were 2mm or less, so hardly noticeable. All in all a good month for us.

June's average is a bit more variable, 81mm over the last 10 years and 71mm over 20 years. The driest was 1995 with 4mm and rain on only 1 day, the wettest was 218mm in 2012 when it rained on 22 days.

Now is the time to make the best of the long days, with the sun rising before 5am and not setting until after 9pm. With the longest day later this month - enjoy, it's soon over.

Warm and sunny for the first few days of the week, but rain late Wednesday and more on Friday and Saturday, totaling 37mm. It certainly lowered the temperature from 23.9°C on Monday down to 11 or 12°C which was very noticeable, especially in the wind. - - getting ready for another Holiday weekend!

Remaining windy to start the week, but no rain. Weather and temperature were much improved on Wednesday and continued to get better as the week passed: 19.8°C Thursday, 21.4°C Friday and 22.6°C on Saturday.

The main feature with the weather this week was the very strong wind and heavy showers. We had some rain on 6 days out of 7 but only 39mm in all. The wind got stronger as we went through the week, it was usually calm first thing in the morning but the wind increased through the day and into the night, and of course it always sounds worse when you are trying to sleep.

Did anyone suffer any damage ? We had a branch off the tree at the top of the garden blow onto our greenhouse on Saturday night, but it didn't do too much damage.

Hopefully thing will be more summery next week, but the forecast isn't too good so far - still showers about it seems - but there should be sunny spells in between.

23.5mm of rain in the last week of April and the start of May. April has been a fairly average month weatherwise - a little colder than than we would have liked but no hard frosts which we do get occasionally in April even in the south west. The total rain for the month was 89.5mm with a dry spell from the 8th to the 20th which was also our wettest day with 20mm.

May averages are 86mm over 10 years and over 20 years 84mm - again not much difference between the two. The driest May was 1990 with only 8.5mm and the wettest was 2007 with 155.5mm and we had rain on 17 days. The wettest May day was in 2008 when we had 34 mm on the 26th. I hope for better things this year.

What a change - after 12 days with no rain at all, we"ve just had a week with rain on 5 days out out of seven a total of 45.5 mm in all.

At least there were 2 dry days Friday and Saturday, over Easter but a pity about the rain on Sunday and Monday. The rest of the week was showery and, again, a cold wind especially on Friday.

No rain in the last seven days - a little light drizzle but not enough to measure and some fog on a couple of mornings otherwise a very good week. Plenty of sunshine and it was even quite warm at times. I know we"ve had a fairly cold wind but it is still only April
after all and I'm sure we can all remember some of the terrible Easters we have had in the past . At least this one started well, with a lovely day Friday and Saturday.

Still remaining dry in our area with only 6-5mm of rain all week. Plenty of sunshine as well, but we have had a very cold wind which
has meant that it hasn't felt as warm as it looked sometimes.

The nights are still cold as well temperature falling to 3°C or 4°C by 6am and on a couple of occasions as low as 1°C to give us a touch of frost but its soon gone as the sun rises.

With only 15.5 mm of rain this week our only problem weatherwise was the air quality in the early part of the week, but the rain on Thursday night seemed to improve things and it was much better on Friday.

The total for March is 63mm a welcome change after the last few months, but it's not warmed up much yet, I'm sure that as we go through April and into May it will get warmer. All our April and May tulips are coming out together as they did last year.

So on to April figures - the average over 10 years for rain is 71 mm and over 20 years 74mm. The wettest April was 2012 with 218.5mm and it rained on 23 days, and the driest was 2011 with only 15mm and it rained on only 3 days. We could still have night frosts though - in 2013 we had a frost on the first 7 nights of the month following a cold spell at the end of March. So watch out for the combination of a clear sky in the evening and no wind and pop a cover over anything delicate.

The main feature of the past week has been the cold wind from the North East which has thankfully now become a light breeze.
We have had rain on 4 days in the last week giving us a total of 22mm, so not too much rain and some very welcome sunshine most days - and if you found some shelter from the wind - lovely and warm.

Once again the sound of the lawnmower and children playing provides a background to my weeding and general tidying in the garden.

Plenty of sunshine this week but, because of the cold wind, the only day which was really warm was Sunday. We've had wind varying from a strong breeze to almost a gale every day this week, and it has kept the temperature well down - unless you were behind glass.

In spite of the heavy showers we only had 14mm of rain and hail so its been a dry month so far.

Just a reminder the clocks go back on 30th of March - which is also Mothering Sunday - not a very good combination in my opinion.

A dry week for us, but we did have a couple of mornings with thick fog, although it lifted during the morning and we had sunshine later on.

It was a very nice week with some lovely weather, but it is still March - so we must be prepared for some more cold weather before we get to planting out bedding plants otherwise it may be a waste of time and money.

Following a wet day on Sunday we had almost no rain for the rest of the week. There was a little rain on Thursday and a slight shower on Friday, so only 27mm for the week - quite a change and I hope it continues for a while longer and gives everywhere a chance to dry out.

As no rain means less cloud - the sunshine was much appreciated by everyone as well.

Once again more rain, at least it was mainly showers so not quite so much water about and it does seem to be drying up a bit at last so only 23.5mm in the last week of February. I hope March will bring us some drier weather.

The total rainfall for the last month is 154.5mm with rain on 21 days - not exceptionally high, but it was following the previous heavy rain we had since last October, with no longer spells of dry weather in between to even things up a bit.

So on to March where the average rain is 69mm over 10 years and 71mm over 20 years. The driest march was in 1997 with 25 mm and the wettest was 2008 with 154mm so nothing exceptional there. We sometimes have our coldest weather this month if we have some dry bright day,s as we often do in March. This is usually followed by frosty nights - last year, 2013, we had night frosts from the middle of the month right through to the 2nd week of April.

All I'm hoping for this month is a lot less rain and some sunshine. [... and so say all of us - Ed]

With only 22.5mm of rain this week a bit of a change from the last two or three months of almost continuous rain. We must surely be due for a change to some settled dryer weather.

The wind is still a problem for some - there were several trees blown down in our area. One at least has caused considerable damage to property, but the wind does seem to be a bit less gusty now, so hopefully we won't have any more gales, at least not until the Autumn.

I still have not heard of any of the sort of flooding problems similar to the ones we had a couple years ago, so there seems to be some improvement there at least .

Down on the Levels things seem to be as bad as ever It will take a long while for any improvement to be visible there - more months than weeks I fear - and as time passes it will be less and less newsworthy. The residents are going to have to really pester the powers-that-be to keep it at the front of every one's mind.

27mm of rain spread over 6 days - the showers have become shorter and lighter here thankfully, so slightly less water lying in the fields and roads as it has at last started to drain away, but if we have prolonged or very heavy rain it will soon build up again.

Very strong gusty winds in the week but once again we seem to have missed the worst of the storms, other parts of the country have had terrible damage.

We had a couple light frosts this week and. Ive noticed that the celandine are beginning to flower on the banks and verges a sure
sign that Spring is on the way. And it can't come soon enough.

Another week with rain every day, but slightly less here than the weather forecast predicted, all though it still added up to a total of 81.5mm. The road at Beam Bridge was flooded on Wednesday when the river came over its banks but it had subsided by the end of the day.

I still haven't heard of any flooding around the village other than in the fields which usually flood when we have a lot of rain. Hopefully, no homes have been flooded as they were a couple of years ago. We are very fortunate not to be facing the disaster that many are, with both floods and storm damage. This will take years to put right and in some cases never will be the same again.

The weather has continued to follow the pattern of the last few weeks with strong winds and heavy prolonged showers. However there were a couple of dry days days this week and even some sunshine. Total rainfall this week was 27.5mm.

The total rain for January was 206.5mm with rain on 26 days. with such high rainfall I am surprised that there seems to have been no serious flooding round the village. The last time we had monthly totals over 200mm was in 2012 when we had 5 months which went over 200mm April, June July, November and December.

With no frost it seems like perpetual Autumn, and I've all ready seen a bumble bee and a couple of butterflies.

Weather seems to be stuck, at the moment. Another week of rain every day, giving us a total of 31mm not a great amount but every day we are getting a top up so it never dries out.

Very strong gusts of wind on Friday and into the week end accompanied by torrential rain showers,our windsock and its pole blew down and various heavy pots rolled around the garden causing damage to themselves and other plants.

Temperature still remains high for January and the end of the month is now in sight and we still have not had a good frost.

With rain every day this week giving us a total of 54.5mm so again not much joy as far as the weather is concerned. I have noticed that the skies are so overcast that the gradual lengthening of the days since the shortest day is barely noticeable.

41.5mm of rain over 5 days, much of it as heavy showers with a strong gusty wind. The temperature has dropped a bit as well.

Couple of items here that were missed last week.

The average rainfall for December is, over 10 years 102mm and over 20 years 108 mm. The wettest December was 1995 with 207 mm and the driest was 1997 with 12 mm.

A very happy New Year to everyone, and may everyone get at least some of the weather they want.

55mm with rain every day, not a good omen for the start of a new year. Very strong winds have made the situation worse for many people who have suffered very badly with damage flooding and no electricity, it cant have been fun to over Christmas to have a fridge stuffed with food and no way of getting it cooked or of keeping it fresh and freezers are usually full at this time of the year as well.

Rainfall for December was 140-5mm not especially wet for this time of the year in fact most have forgotten

That apart from one shower the first eleven days of the month were dry although it was overcast much of the time. The one exceptional thing this month has been the high temperature right through and into the new year with no snow or frost it hardly seems like winter at all and we are well past the shortest day , so what ever happens it wont be along winter.

Review of 2013

The year started dry which we needed after 2012 but by the middle of the month we had snow which because of the temperature hung about for quite a while but as usual it was very much worse in the colder areas of the country. It continued cold and frosty through February and March and on into April we had the coldest Easter day for many years. Spring was very late because persistent cold winds and we were well into May before it began to warm up.

We did have some lovely warm weather in July and we even had very good weather in August for a change, September was fairly good and it was nt until October we had really wet weather which continued into November and December. The total rain was 1030mm the wettest month was October with 196-5 which was also the month with the longest continues spell of wet days 20 and the driest month was February 38 days but the longest fine spell was in July 19 days.