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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 599 For   NOVEMBER  2005
MILD RAINY START, THEN MUCH COLDER;  SUNNIEST NOVEMBER ON RECORD
Text Box: A cyclonic/southwesterly regime prevailed throughout the first twelve days, but from the 13th onwards anticyclonic and northerly types were dominant. With such contrasting episodes, the sea-level pressure anomaly field over Europe and the Atlantic was relatively weak, and the main anomaly centres were -6mbar off north-west Norway and +6mbar over mid-Atlantic. The anomalous flow over the British Isles was NNW-ly. After a bright first day, the 2nd brought rain and strong winds to all areas but it was exceptionally mild with 18.8°C at Prestatyn (Flintshire), and the following night the temperature fell no lower than 15.8°C at Herne Bay (Kent) - one of the warmest nights on record in the UK. Another frontal system brought heavy rain to western and northern districts on the 5th and 6th with 50mm at Cardinham (Cornwall), then two intense secondary depressions swept past the UK’s northwestern seaboard on the 7th/8th and 11th/12th, the wind gusting to 80-90kn in the Western Isles on both occasions. Heavy orographic rain recurred, with 76mm at Capel Curig (Snowdonia) on the former occasion and 101mm at Cassley (Sutherland) on the latter, but between these two systems all regions were mostly dry and sunny on the 9th. It remained warm with highs of 14-17°C on several days. The briefest of northerly outbreaks was followed by a strong but short-lived build of pressure across the British Isles on the 13th and 14th, and this brought a general drop in temperature with frost by night and plentiful sunshine by day. Another northerly outbreak between the 15th and 17th preceded a prolonged rise in pressure which saw the establishment of a large anticyclone over the UK from the 18th-23rd. There were snow showers in Scotland on the 16th, otherwise this was a period of cold, settled weather with frosty nights and sunny days. At night temperatures fell widely to between -5 and -8°C, and reached -9.2°C at Tulloch Bridge (Lochaber) on the 18th and Braemar (Aberdeenshire) on the 19th. Freezing fog
Text Box: formed widely from the 19th onwards, persisting all day in places, and at Pershore (Worcs) the temperature remained below zero from sunset on the 18th to daybreak on the 21st. Elsewhere, many places had five or six consecutive days of unbroken sunshine, and Hastings logged 67 hours of sunshine in the 10-day period 13th-22nd. The anticyclone withdrew to mid-Atlantic on the 24th as a vigorous cold front swept southwards across the country, introducing a northerly flow which lasted until the 29th. The front on the 24th was associated with hail, thunder, violent squalls, and a near-instantaneous temperature drop of 5-8 degC. The next day, heavy snow fell widely in the northern half of Scotland (20cm at Glenlivet), Northern Ireland, Wales, Devon and Cornwall, and hundreds of motorists were stranded overnight on Bodmin Moor following an accident which blocked the A30. The next two days were slightly less cold and rain fell rather than snow, including a fall of 70mm in 48 hours at Boulmer (Northumberland). Snow returned on the 28th, affecting chiefly Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands; flights were disrupted at Manchester airport and roads over the Cotswolds were blocked by motorists unable to cope with the 5-7cm fall. It became somewhat less cold on the 30th as the wind backed westerly and rain approached from the Atlantic. The first half of November was the warmest since 1994 (temperatures 2.0-2.5 degC above normal), while the second half was the coldest since 1993 (3.5-4.0 degC below normal). It was a dry month in most eastern and some southern districts, with less than 30mm of rain over much of Lincolnshire, East Anglia and Kent, but monthly totals were rather above average in northern and western Scotland, northwest England, Wales and Cornwall. Sunshine aggregates were above normal practically everywhere, and approached twice the long-term mean locally in northeast England and the Midlands. Averaged over England and Wales this was easily the sunniest November in a record stretching back to 1881.
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL                                                       
                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                   
                                          Highest and lowest totals                     Highest and lowest totals        
                                              on record for month    
Maximum fall in 24 hrs (beginning 09 h)
                    on record for month    
Days with snow or sleet
 
Days with fog (Vis <220 yards at 09 h)
 
                                                                                         
     
Difference from average
   
Difference from average
 
Highest maximum
   
Lowest minimum
   
No. of days with grass minimum below 0ºC
   
Days of no sunshine
 
Maximum duration
       
First year of record
         
Days of no rainfall (0.1 mm or less)
         
First year of record
         
Days with thunder
     
       PLACE  
Mean Maximum
   
Mean minimum
             
No. of air frosts
       
Total for month
                   
Total for month
                   
                               
% of average
                   
% of average
                 
                                                                     
                                   
Highest
   
Lowest
 
Year
             
Highest
   
Lowest