CLIMATE-UK.COM'S REVIEW OF THE BRITISH METEOROLOGICAL SCENE

MONTHLY SUMMARY

No. 575

For NOVEMBER 2003

VERY MILD AND SUNNY; VERY WET AFTER THE 20TH

Text Box: A south to southeasterly regime from the 5th to the 12th was followed by an unsettled mainly southwesterly type for the rest of the month. Mean sea-level pressure ranged from 1mbar below normal in east Kent and East Anglia to 6mbar below in western Ireland. The dominant anomaly centres were +11mbar over northwest Russia and -13mbar just south of Iceland; the anomalous flow over the British Isles was southerly.

A deep depression passed close to northern Scotland between the 1st and 3rd bringing heavy rain followed by blustery showers with local thunder to all parts of the UK, but there were long sunny spells too, and Torquay (Devon) recorded 9.0 hours on the 3rd. A strong rise of pressure during the 3rd led to the establishment of an anticyclone over Europe where it remained until mid-month. Apart from rain in northwest Scotland on the 4th/5th, most of Britain now enjoyed several days of dry weather, and it became sunny and unseasonably warm for a time. The high of 19.2°C at Wisley (Surrey) on the 6th has not been exceed in November in England since 1984, while at Lochcarron (Wester Ross) the maximum of 20.2°C on the 7th was the highest in Scotland since 1946. Before this year, November maxima of 20°C or more in the UK had occurred only in 1906, 1938, 1946 and 1997. It was cloudier and colder on the 8th as the flow backed easterly, but over the next four days Atlantic fronts brought outbreaks of rain, mainly to western districts, and it became milder again.

A vigorous depression tracked east across Ireland and northern England on the 14th accompanied by widespread rain and strong winds; Mumbles (near Swansea) registered

Text Box: a gust of 73kn. The next two days were drier and sunnier in most regions, but a broad southwesterly airflow was responsible for a spell of very mild but cloudy weather from the 17th to the 20th. Rainfall was appreciable on west-facing slopes but minimal in lowland eastern regions; highs included 16.7°C at Aberdeen airport on the 18th, the highest on record so late in the year at that site, and 16.5°C at Madley (Herefordshire) on the 19th.

From the 21st to the 23rd a quasi-stationary front delivered prolonged steady rain to southern England as far west as Dorset, the south Midlands, the Home Counties and East Anglia. Much of this area recorded 50-75mm of rain over a period of about 50 hours, and Charlwood (Surrey) collected 84mm. Elsewhere there were long sunny spells, widespread frost, and patchy fog night and morning, and in western Scotland there were some heavy showers. Altnaharra (Sutherland) logged a minimum of -8.3°C on the 24th. The last six days of the month were very unsettled with heavy rain and strong winds at times; a further fall of 30-40mm affected parts of southern England on the 25th/26th, while Scotland and Northern Ireland had 40-60mm (69mm at Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire) on the 29th/30th.

The Central England Temperature (provisional) of 8.2°C was 1.3 degC above the 1971-2000 mean; there were only nine warmer Novembers in the preceding 100 years. Rainfall percentages ranged from 230 locally in Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, to about 40 at several sites in eastern Scotland and northeast England. Sunshine percentages varied between 80 in southwest Scotland and 180 in Orkney where it was the sunniest November since 1976.

TEMPERATURE

SUNSHINE

RAINFALL

Highest and lowest totals

Highest and lowest totals

on record for month

on record for month

PLACE