November 2006 Another very sunny November; very wet in the north and west; rather cold first week then very mild

✍ Scribed by Philip Eden

• Book ID: 104602340
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2007
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 899 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0043-1656
• DOI: 10.1002/wea.26

✦ Synopsis

Weather log

November 2006 Another very sunny November; very wet in the north and west; rather cold first week then very mild

Pressure was generally high until the 12th especially in southern Britain, but a very disturbed period followed between the 13th and the end of the month although pressure did rise sharply in the south on the 29th/30th. Mean sea-level pressure ranged from 10 mbar below normal in the Western Isles to 1 mbar above at Dover, resulting in an enhanced southwesterly flow over the British Isles -it was the most southwesterly November since 1992.

Northerly winds on the 1st died down as an anticyclone developed over the UK. Pressure remained high over southern Britain until the 7th but a westerly flow developed further north. Sunny days and frosty nights characterised this period, although it became cloudier in northern and western districts from the 4th, and morning fog developed in parts of England and Wales on the 6th, 7th and 8th. The temperature at Sennybridge (Powys) fell to -6.5°C overnight 1st/2nd and to -6.6°C the following night. Many places in southern England enjoyed practically unbroken sunshine daily, and the aggregate for the first week at Pendennis Point (Cornwall) was 57.2h -an average of over 8h per day. Atlantic fronts brought some rain to Scotland from the 4th onwards and it became windy at times here too; a little rain penetrated to southern England overnight 8th/9th but a broad belt of rain crossed all districts on the 10th. This was the first measurable rain in parts of the Midlands and South-East for 16 days and marked the beginning of a much more disturbed spell of weather.

From then until the 19th active frontal troughs crossed the country at frequent intervals bringing heavy falls of rain to all districts; flooding was reported from southwest Scotland on the 15th (Threave in Galloway recorded 46 mm), and from southeast England on the 17th where totals of 20-30 mm were common. However, there were brighter interludes too and the weekend 18th/19th was particularly sunny in southern and eastern England with over 7 h of bright sunshine on both days, although there was slight frost overnight.

Deep depressions tracked past our north-western seaboard during the remainder of the month maintaining the very disturbed weather, although the last two days were fine in the south and east as pressure rose sharply over the near-continent. Heavy rain fell almost daily over the western Highlands, Cumbria and Snowdonia: Capel Curig recorded 61mm on the 19th while Tyndrum (Perthshire) logged 91 mm in 48 h on the 19th/20th. Meanwhile on the 25th and 26th there were outbreaks of torrential rain accompanied by hail and thunder across many southern and central districts leading to locally serious but short-lived flooding. Small tornadoes were reported near Portsmouth on the 25th and near Aberystwyth on the 28th. Winds reached gale force at times in the west and north, with gusts to 65 kn in the Western Isles on the 30th. However, there were also some good sunny breaks, notably on the 21st, 23rd and 29th.

In spite of the cold first week, mean temperature was above long-term average practically nationwide, and by up to 2 degC in parts of the South-East. This was sufficient to establish a new record for the autumn quarter, the CET of 12.6°C beating the previous record-holders, 1730 and 1731, by the wide margin of 0.8 degC. November rainfall was slightly below normal locally in eastern England, but approached three times the normal in the southwestern Highlands (where monthly totals exceeded 600 mm) and on Clydeside. New sunshine records were established over much of eastern and central England with monthly aggregates of 100-120 h, and as much as 136 h at Bognor Regis (Sussex).