|
Summary for 2008
Winter:
Carrying on from the previous year, 2008 continued a theme of
refusing to conform. After a cooler than average December both
January and February got the year off to a very warm start.
Unusually for a warm winter month, February turned out to be very
dry (25 mm) and sunny with over 135 hours of sunshine, which was
more than August. During January there was a consecutive period of
warmth from 07:45 on the 18th to 20:00 on the 21st when temperatures
did not fall below 10.0C, a total of 84.3 hours.
Spring:
Things cooled slightly relative to the average temperature by the
time March arrived with this month ending up with less sunshine than
February and was only 0.1°C warmer than January. The sunshine
returned in April and the first 17 days were very sunny with an
average of 8.3 hours a day. But after a few days of spring warmth at
the beginning of April, temperatures took a nose-dive from the 6th
to the 19th as cold northerlies and easterlies set in bringing the
first observed snow falling in over 2 years. By the end of the month
temperatures had recovered and this led into a warm, wet but sunny
May with a run of remarkably warm to hot days from the 3rd to the
14th, with an average daily maximum temperature for that period of
23.0°C. What turned out to be the hottest day of the year occurred
on the 11th with a max of 27.9°C and on this day I had my earliest
ever 'no wetsuit required' swim in the sea. I remember thinking how
fantastically warm it was, and the summer had not even started;
little did I realise that WAS our summer!
Summer:
Weatherwise, June was easily the best month of the summer with dry
and sunny weather dominating throughout but except for a short 'hot'
spell from the 8th - 10th, the temperatures remained stubbornly in
the high teens or low 20s with plenty of cool nights. July was a
month of two halves with the first half being very wet (90.8 mm);
cool (mean 15.6°C) and cloudy (72 hours of sun). Whilst the second
half was drier (22.1 mm); warmer (mean 18.1°C) and sunnier (116
hours of sun). The last week of the month also had a run of very
warm nights and was the only really summer-like weather of that
season. August was a horrible month being wet, cold and dull. On the
13th the maximum day temperature only reached 15.4°C which was the
coldest August day I have ever recorded. The month as a whole was a
complete write-off and ended what was yet another disappointing
summer.
Autumn:
The unsettled theme carried on into the autumn with September being
generally cloudy for the first 2 weeks and an absence of any warm
days. Things improved with a settled and sunny spell from the 18th -
29th. October started cool and wet but soon became settled, sunny
and warm. This settled spell lasted until the 3rd week. No rain fell
from the 8th to the 19th but afterwards it became fairly wet with
rain on most days, though not large amounts. It also became cooler
and the month ended cold and stormy with an exceptional hailstorm
(now locally known as the 'Great Ottery Hailstorm') in the early
hours of the 30th. November had a cool and wet start but soon became
much warmer and the warmth lasted until the final week of the month
when there were a few air frosts at night. A little wetter than
normal and sunshine levels were just a little below average. Quite
dull around mid-month but the 3rd week was sunny and settled.
2007 & 2008
Comparisons: 2008 was a little wetter (+121 mm), just
slightly sunnier (+15 hours) and only 0.1°C colder. Regarding the
number of air frosts (+3), thunder (+2) and sunless days (+6),
things were also very similar
|
