Broad Street Wrington Website
Meteorological Report
2018

Former parish councillor, and meteorological enthusiast, Dawn Judd, kindly provides us with a weekly met. report based on readings she takes daily at her home at 8.30am for the rainfall.
















Review of 2017 January February March April May June July August September October November
Dawn has reluctantly decided not to continue her weekly weather reports which she started when the website launched in December, 1999. We are very grateful to her for what now stands as a remakable record of the weather in Wrington over the past 18 years. It will remain accessible here for its historical value - Ed.
9th - 15th December
The total rainfall for the past week is 24 mm. The weather has again been very changeable with the temperature varying between very cold and mild - sometimes in the same day - and several nights when it has been warmer during the night than during the day. I will be glad when it finally settles down and we all know where we are - at least as far as the weather is concerned.
2nd - 8th December
We had a bit of a change in the weather this week, although it has still been quite mild, considering the time of the year. We have had very high winds which has led to us having very heavy showers. The rain for the week is 44mm, which is not an exceptional amount, but, because the rain fell so heavily, it led to some minor flooding because the water could drain not drain fast enough - not helped by the amount of leaves which soon blocked the drains. Nevertheless, all seemed to be sorted by the end of the week.
25th November - 1st December
The total rain for November was 130mm, making it the 2nd wettest month this year. Only March had more rain {with a total of 160 mm.} We had very variable weather right through the month - one day cold, the next almost like summer. Not until almost the end of the Month was the weather more typical of the season.

The outlook for
the coming month is a bit mixed as well. Average rainfall for December is , over 10 years 114mm. and over 20 years 123. The driest December was in 2016 when we only had 15mm, but we still managed some rain on 10 days. The wettest was so far 1999 with a total of206.5 and we had rain on 21 days. Luckily, I can't remember it, but it must have been awful for most
people.

I have checked right through my records and a dry Christmas day is as likely as a wet one; the amount of rain, though, has varied between 2mm and the wettest - 26 mm - so its all down to chance.

The shortest day is on Friday 21st and after that we can all look forward to Spring, although we haven't had winter yet

18th - 24th November
Yet again, another mainly dry week. Quite a lot of threatening clouds, and I know that others got rain, but once again hardly any here. It seems strange to be watering pots and tubs in the middle of November, but I don't want the pansies and cyclamen to wilt. I”m hoping that they will last at least until Christmas, and possible longer.

Although we are not having much rain, we are getting quite hard frosts some mornings. -3.4°C was our lowest this week, and the day time temperatures have only been in single figures.

11th - 17th November
Only 12.5 mm of rain this week, and quite a lot of sunshine for November. This month used to be noted for fog, and rain and wind and anything unpleasant. Instead, apart from the darker nights and mornings, we could almost still be in September. However, a change is coming, so they say, much colder and some more rain.

I know that it is nicer for all of us to have unseasonable weather but we do still need a lot more rain by next spring.

4th - 10th November
The average rainfall for this month is, over 10 years138mm, and over 20 years 126mm. the wettest November was in 2012 when we had 259 mm, It only rained on 16 days but that did include days when we had the following 24m,m 44mm, 32mm twice and
51mm. On the other days we had more normal rainfall .

This week we have had 72 mm. Hopefully we wont quite such heavy showers as we have had on the last couple of nights, some nice steady rain will be fine.

The Autumn colour is still keeping going even quite ordinary hedges and trees are joining in now I cant remember when we had such a show.

28th October - 3rd November
The total rainfall through October was 103 mm. Most of that fell on 5 days in the middle of the month, otherwise another fairly good month for the time of the year - some very strong winds but not quite strong enough to cause serious damage in this area . We had the highest rainfall in 24 hours since March, with 27mm on the13th which makes us realize what a dry time we have had.

21st - 27th October

The wet spell didn't last long did it ? We only had 8 mm this week - and we had to wait until Saturday night for that.

Went to have a look at the lakes again. The old
road is under water - just. There are some very interesting birds there at this time
of the year. We saw a couple of egrets which is unusual. We normally only see the little egrets here, and there are a lot of cormorants as well, 50 or so. Of course the more birds, the more people taking pictures .

Much colder towards the weekend - I think the weather is changing at last. It was very cold the last couple mornings, almost a frost here, and the long-range forecast is for it to get much colder in the next couple of weeks.

14th - 20th October

40 mm of rain this week following on from the 45mm last week, means, at last, a useful amount of rain. We could do with more.
7th - 13th October
First of all, sorry I omitted to include the average rainfall for the month last week, so here it is now. Over 10 years 121 mm and over 20 years 130 , so as you can see, a fairly wet month. As the last week shows, with 45 mm. and gale force winds, we were lucky. I suppose it could have been a lot worse, and I havn:t heard of any damage in our vicinity, although I have seen a number of branches and other debris about.

Neither have
I heard of any flooding around here, so once again we have been luckier than others. I have noticed that it is still warm for October, during the last week we have temperatures as high as 23°C and 24°C, which is unusually high for October, and I am still waiting for the first proper frost.
30th September - 6th October
Another dry week for us, giving a total for September of 69.5mm of rain - another below average month. I know it is only a few mm less, but it all adds up long term, and we now need a lot of steady rain over the next few months if we are to avoid shortages next year.

As it is now much cooler overnight, we are getting some spectacular Autumn colour. It's well worth an outing, even locally there are some amazing sights - trees and shrubs we haven’t even noticed all year, suddenly are having their moment of glory.

23rd - 29th September
Rain at the beginning of the week - 27mm - and that was it for the rest of the week. It looked like rain several times, and I:m sure some other areas had rain but none here. This happens quite often when showers are forecast - we seem to miss them regularly. Whether this is a good thing or not depends on whether we are short of rain or we have already had enough.
16th - 22nd September
Another fairly good week weather wise. We had 36.5 mm of rain, and a good amount of sunshine, so still warm during the daytime but towards evening the temperature has been dropping quite sharply and it's getting dark much earlier too. There is still another month until we alter our clocks back on the 28th of October.

The autumn
equinox is on the 23 September so we should now be getting 12 hours light and 12 hours dark, but I find we are always dependent on the weather - and where we are at the time.
9th - 15th September
A little more rain this week, but still only 14.5mm. It has been cooler, so the rain we are getting now is not evaporating quite so quickly, and most plants in the flower garden have finished growing for this year so demand for water is a lot less - unless you are growing dahlias, which are still keeping going - as they will until the first frost, with a bit of care and attention and water.
2nd - 8th September
Little to report this week, as I took a short break from my usual routine, luckily picking an almost dry week - only 0.5mm of rain recorded, and plenty of sunshine.

I did record that on the 2nd the temperature at 6am was 7.1°C, and at 8.10am it had gone up to 17.6°C - quite a climb for this time of the year.

26th August - 1st September
Only 1 wet day this week - Sunday the 26th - but we don't want many like that, especially when I’m driving up the M5, as I was on this occasion. The total amount was 19.5mm here, but many areas had a lot more. This helped us to reach a total of 115 mm for the month - almost the average for August - so our water butts should have filled up quite a lot, and, as it has not been quite so warm, and we have done less watering.

So on to September. The average for this month over 10 years is 85mm and over 20 years 83mm. The wettest September day was in 2000 with 182mm, and the driest was in 2014, with 9.5mm - which it managed to spread over 6 days.

I think in a good year this is my favourite month, as we have all the lovely Autumn colour to look forward to. If the weather does not disappoint us, we need cool or even cold nights and lovely sunny days to get the best Autumn colour and the right trees. Westonbirt is always worth a visit , and if the weather holds, it can be even better in October.

19th - 25th August
The weather is returning to its usual mix for the end of August - sunshine and showers . So far most of the rain has been overnight - 24mm all together - so I don't think we will have much more watering to do. It is also noticeably cooler, especially in the evening
and early morning , and it's getting dark earlier as well. Only another 4weeks until the Autumn Equinox, but I am not going down that road yet. Lets all just enjoy the last of summer !
12th - 18th August
We had 37.5 mm of rain last week, which is just about enough to keep thing alive - as long as they were not in a rain shadow or obstruction - but I will be checking pots and tubs to be on the safe side.

I've noticed it is a little cooler in the evenings, and the mornings are quite dark now - time seems to be flying by. Some of our Acers are beginning to change colour so Autumn is on its way. All the hot dry weather we've had will make a difference to the show we get this year, although some shrubs and trees have given up and shed their leaves already.

5th - 11th August
The week started with another lovely sunny day, but the weather is going to change we are told. In fact, it was Wednesday before we had any rain and then it was only 1mm here - not until Friday did we have a decent amount of rain, 11 mm, followed by 22 mm

on Saturday. This gave us a total for the week of 35 mm which, considering how little rain we've had, will make difference - we still need a lot more .

29th July - 4th August
The end of the month again - time seems to fly by; we'll be ordering our Christmas cards before long.

Well, this July has been unusual, mainly because of the temperature. We've
had dry spells before, but not the heat; the highest we measured was 33°C - not just once, but day after day as the heat seemed to build up, but I feel it is coming to an end. I doubt
whether August will be as good.

The average rainfall for August is over 10 years is 118mm and over 20 years 100mm. The driest August 2003 when it only rained on 6 days with 15mm, and the wettest was in 2008 when it rained on 27 days 179mm.

August does not usually have very good weather, which is a shame as it covers most of the school summer holiday, but, as you can see from the averages, over 100mm is almost normal. We must hope that July weather is not the only good weather we will get this summer.

22nd - 28th July
The weather much as it's been over the last few weeks - but even hotter and not much breeze either. Even I found it quite hot, which is unusual for me. On Thursday temperature went up to 31.9°C for a couple of hours and on Friday it went as high as 32.2°C, so it got over 90°F in the end.

Saturday was much cooler and we had a shower - only 1.5mm
for us - but other villages had more. As often happens, once again we had less rain than our neighbours, but remember, in the middle of winter this is to our advantage and anyway we are promised more rain to come.
15th - 21st July
We had a couple of showers this week, but only 3mm together - so not much help as far as watering the garden is concerned. Otherwise hot and sunny, building up towards 30°C but not quite there yet - at least, not in our garden.
8th - 14th July
Not much change in the weather during the last week - slightly cooler at night and early morning otherwise much as the last few weeks. The temperature is still hitting the high 80°Fs most days by early afternoon and sometimes the low 90°Fs. There has been the odd shower in the area but we got very little rain - at most 1mm which doesn't make a lot of difference.

I can see that we will suffer later, with higher prices and shortages of some of our basic foodstuffs.

1st - 7th July
The only change I can see in the weather is it seems to be slightly hotter in the last week than the previous week, and there seems to be no change forecast for the coming week either.

Looking back to 1995 we only had 30mm of rain in the 3 months from the end of May until the 2 September when our normal weather pattern returned, and we had the usual amounts of rain for the rest of the year.

I know its nice to have all this sunshine, but I think a lot of people are looking for a change now - enough is enough perhaps.

24th - 30th June
In spite of the very dry month we have just had, it's not the driest. In June '95 we had only 4mm, and this June we had 5mm. The temperature has been higher than I have previously taken in our garden, but I find recording temperature is much harder to record accurately without expensive equipment, so all my measurements are an average of several thermometers around the garden.The highest I had is 32.4°C .

At the end of the 90s we had 3 dry years 95, 96, 97, leading to a drought with water shortages and restrictions such as no washing cars, showers instead of baths, no watering the garden etc. Whether this will happen again will probably depend on how soon and how much it rains.

The average for July over 10 years is 106mm and over 20 years 100mm. The driest July in the last 20 years is 1999, when it only rained on 3 days - 11mm in total. The wettest was 2007 when it rained on 25 days, a total of 218mm; it also rained on 25 days in 2009 but the total was only 217.5 not a happy start to the school summer holidays in either year.

17th - 23rd June
Yet again another almost dry week. We did have some light drizzle at the weekend, but only 1mm of rain, so not a lot of difference from the previous couple of weeks.

The temperature has increased as the week has passed from the low 20°Cs up into the mid 20s - and even as high as 28°C, but not as high as 30°C yet; but if the weather continues to be fine and dry, it's certain likely.

10th - 16th June
Again a dry week with only 2mm of rain, but I did record that at 6am the sky was cloudy 5 mornings out of 7, and, although it cleared here quite quickly, it did mean that other areas were getting more rain than we were.

Most of our gardens are beginning to show signs of lack of water and all the pots and baskets need daily watering to keep them alive, but with a long dry spell like this, the permanent shrubs and plants are at risk as well. If you can water, do so and cover any
exposed soil around plants after you have watered. Mulching is always worthwhile in dry conditions, and leave the lawn uncut. It will recover but some of your plants and shrubs won't. Especially at risk are those with shallow fibrous roots such as Azaleas,
Rhododendrons and some conifers, especially when they were planted in the last couple of years.

3rd - 9th June
An almost dry week here - we had 2mm of rain which disappeared as soon as it fell - otherwise dry hot and sunny. There have been some cloud about occasionally but nothing to suggest rain, so it's on with the watering for the gardeners among us.

The temperature has certainly been higher than we usually get in early June we have recorded over 25°C a number of times and I always ensure I take several readings in areas of permanent shade and average them out to try to get as accurate figure as possible.

27th May - 2nd June
May ended as it started with rain, but not a lot when you looked at how dry the previous weeks have been. We just made the average for the month 79mm .

The most memorable thing about this month has been the rising temperature. We started the month a bit on the cold side with a chilly breeze which hung about for the first couple of weeks, but latterly the temperature rose day by day, and reached as high as 26/27°C in the shade and the coming weekend looks very good.

June has started well, so we hope it will continue the summery weather. The average rainfall for June over 10 years is 77mm and over 20 years 82mm. The wettest was 2012 when it rained on 22 days giving a total of 212mm and the driest was 2010 with 21mm and only 5 days with rain.

20th - 26th May
Another week of fairly good weather, but we could do with more rain than the 14mm we had in the last few days. Steady rain for several hours is what we could do with now to keep everything growing - especially those trying to grow vegetables on the allotments, and their gardens. Keeping our pots and baskets going seems to have become a daily chore now, but I know everyone is enjoying the sunshine after the long winter we had this time.

Anyone with young shrubs or conifers will remember the water table is lower than usual and anything planted during the last couple of years may be struggling, and need the odd bucket of water to keep them happy until the autumn.

Once again we missed the worst of the storms - I heard thunder only twice, and the heavy rain missed us entirely.

13th - 19th May
A dry week - at least for us. Other areas of the country have had rain, mainly the North West and North, but not us this time. It has been bright and sunny all week although we still had the chilly breeze to start with. As last week, by Thursday/Friday the temperature started to rise and the wind decreased. On Friday and Saturday the temperature went up to 25/26°C and even briefly 27°C. I don't expect that to happen very often, but the weather can always surprise us - and I wouldn't want it any other way.
6th - 12th May
A reasonable week with only 7mm of rain, some cloudy spells, but good amounts of sunshine too, even if the wind is still chilly at times. But I know its only a matter of time before someone says to me " it's getting a bit dry, we could do with a good shower at night", of course. Well, according to the to pundits, we are going to have a good week with plenty of sunshine, so we will see !
29th April - 5th May
30mm of rain to the end of April/start of May, but, since Thursday, it's been fine and dry if not very warm, which gives me hope for the coming holiday weekend.

April was not a good month weather-wise this year. It was cooler than usual, and Easter was a real disappointment for most of us. We have had the odd good day, but not as much as we would like; even the rain was above average this month - with 98mm - and the temperature has been below average most of the month.

May The average rain for this month is , over 10 years, 80mm and over 20 years, 79mm. The driest May was 2001, with 36mm, and rain on 8 days; the wettest was 156mm in 2006, with rain on 18 days - from the 17th until 29th it rained every day, with a few days earlier in the month to make to make up the total.

I am hopeful that this weekend will be warm and sunny. Just for a change, it's been fine since Thursday and today - Saturday - it is sunny, so we will hope it stays that way at least until Tuesday.

22nd - 28th April
24mm of rain this week, so still fairly dry here, but not as warm as we might expect for the last full week of April. This has been a cold spring on the whole; we did have a couple of really hot days, but it was soon over and back to cloudy, with a cold wind.
A
gain we can only hope that next month will be warmer.
15th - 21st April
I hope this last week is not the only summer we are going to get this year, it was a real treat for most of us, unless you are one of the hay fever sufferers who is affected by early tree pollen, I understand it has been particularly bad this year. With only 7mm of rain and the temperature going up to 26°C on both Wednesday and Thursday I don't expect this will happen again very often and by Saturday, normal April had returned.
8th - 14th April
34mm of rain this week, on 5 days out of 7, and not very warm either until Saturday when we had a really lovely warm sunny day and the temperature went up to 20°C in our garden by mid afternoon ( only briefly ). Perhaps the better weather we are promised in the coming week will really happen, as all we are getting now, is the odd fine day - when we really want a week at least.
1st - 7th April
33mm of rain during the first week of April and not very warm some of the time either. The Easter Bank Holiday must have been a disappointment to many who had planned outings or a Short break, but we must be used by now, to Bank Holidays and poor weather seeming to go together, and this Easter was no exception.

The rest of the week was cloudy mainly, with some sunshine, and a brisk wind helped to keep the temperature down . However it is slowly getting warmer - no night frosts this week and the garden is getting quite colourful - so the bulbs think it's spring, even if we don't.

25th - 31st March
The last week of March started well with the changing of our clocks to summer time. We had a lovely Spring day with the temperature up to 16.9 - a good omen I thought - but not really. The temperature went down to zero during the night and the rest of the week was notable for the amount of rain we had - 65mm giving us an unusually high total for March of 160 mm. We must not forget we also had snow twice, adding to the amount of water, so no wonder everywhere is so muddy - our back garden is like a swamp.

The average rainfall for April is over 10 years 61mm, and over 20 years 77mm. The wettest April was in 2012 with 218 mm and the driest was last year 2017 with 11.5. This month tends to be more showery than prolonged rain, except of course 2012 when it forgot to stop, started raining on the 8th of the month, and rained every day until the 4th of May. We don't want a repeat - in fact 2012 was one of the wettest years we have had.

18th - 24th March
I don't think the snowfall on Sunday and again on Monday was as welcome as it had been a couple of weeks ago a case of once is enough for most of us over about the age of 10. We also had some very cold nights as well, temperature down as low as 4.3°C and a very cold wind too. By mid week things started to warm up and most of the snow had gone by Thursday, except for some corners which the sun didn't reach.

On Saturday the temperature
reached 14.4°C and Sunday may be even warmer. I see the longer range forecast is threatening even more snow at Easter. I hope not but it wouldn't be the first time but I’m hopeful that this time it won't get as far as us, but we
may have rain instead.
11th - 17th March

In spite of the end of the week it started with fairly normal weather for March - some showers, rain for the week 39mm and reasonable temperatures right up to and including Friday. We even had some sunny intervals, but it was certainly all change on Saturday. Falling temperatures as the day progressed, and the start of snow showers the lowest we recorded was -4.1°C but that didn't record the wind chill which made everything worse.

Hopefully, better next week.

4th - 10th March
I don't think anyone will be hoping for snow again for quite a while, and with any luck we probably won't have any more this winter. We have in the past had snow as late as the middle of April, and I have heard that if the snow lies on the ground for more than 3 days it will bring more - another old wives' tale I suppose.

Anyway except for some odd corners it has gone and as the weather warmed up. We had rain instead - 33 mm of rain this week which, as it followed the melted snow, it was very soggy underfoot. Our garden was a swamp for several days.

After all that, what a lovely day we had on Saturday - warm and sunny with just a light breeze, the temperature went up to 16.8°C - a real spring day.

11th - 17th February
A wet week with some rain on 6 days out of 7, the wettest week we have had so far this year. Some very heavy prolonged showers, plus sleet and hail at times, giving us a total of 61 mm. However, we still managed to have a couple bright, frosty mornings - but they didn't last long.

Next week the weather is supposed to be calmer and give us some sunny days for a change.
4th - 10th February
The average rainfall for February is, over 10 years 74mm and over 20 years 83mm. The wettest February was in 2002 with rain on 16 days and a total of 155mm, and the driest was 1998 with one wet day 11 mm which is very unusual for February.

The rainfall for our first full week of February was 26mm. We have had a lot of frost at night and sometimes well into the day - Wednesday the 7th, for instance, the temperature went down to -3°C overnight and hovered around zero during the day.
The only
days it got warmer were the days we had rain. This has never been one of my favourite months, roll on March.

28th January - 3rd February
Another fairly dry week with only 11 mm of rain giving us a total for January of 116.5 mm, which is almost double the January total last year. However, as 2017 was fairly dry, I am hoping that this year we will have rather more rain, otherwise we could end up somewht short of water this summer. BUT I AM NOT LOOKING FOR FLOODS, just a little more than last year.
21st - 27th January
We had 49 mm of rain this week, with 31 mm on Sunday the 21st. The rest was mainly showers scattered through the week. The only unusual event weather-wise this week was the temperature during the night of the 23rd/24th when the temperature rose to 15.2°C during the night, dropping back to normal during the early morning. Quite unusual - I can't remember it happening previously at this time of the year.
14th - 20th January
The week started cold but dry, but not for long; we had some rain on the 15th and the 16th, but the wind was the main feature of the weather. It became increasingly windy as we went through the week - during the night of the 18th/19th our windsock pole snapped - this rarely happens, 3 or 4 times in the last 20 years. The wind was still quite gusty right up to the weekend, and I see we may have more stormy weather next week.
7th - 13th January
In spite of the cloud amounts at times, and some very light drizzle, we jad only 2mm of rain this week. The temperature was very variable too, from a very hard frost -4.5°C to a high of 11.2°C in the early afternoon of Wednesday the 10th.

We are supposed to be having high winds and snow during the coming week so conditions could get difficult, but so often we wait in vain for bad weather to materialise and nothing happens, so we will just wait and see.

1st January - 6th January
In spite of some very cold frosty nights we still managed to notch up 30.5mm of rain to start the year with some rain falling on 6 days out of 7. I hope it dries up a bit as I would like to start some garden tidying as soon as possible.

Review of 2017

This year December was our wettest month of the year in direct contrast to 2016, when December was the driest month of the year This gives us a total rainfall for the year of 1021mm, making 2017 just below the middle of the table of rainfall going back to 1990 - so fairly average which also gives us a picture of the year.

There were no real extreme weather events this year we have had gales but not causing the sort of damage other parts of Britain suffered, we have had no serious flooding here again other areas suffered terrible damage, sometimes I think we are very lucky with the weather in North Somerset at least in our bit.

I have already said that December was our wettest month with 134mm rain fell on 16 days and we had a couple of days wet snow which soon melted. Our driest month was April with only 11.5mm of rain and this month also gave us our longest dry spell 21 days, What happened to our April showers I don't know, they were sadly missed by some especially those trying to germinate their spring vegetables crops and local farmers .The wettest 24 hour period was in December but it was only 30mm so nothing exceptional there either.

So 2017 can go down as an ordinary year as far as the weather is concerned like tens of thousands of others and I hope we have many others like it.