18 Nov 2014

November: mild and wet so far

Following the warmth and sunshine of October, November has seen the weather switch to something more akin to autumn, with low pressure systems moving in off the Atlantic.

This has given our weather an unsettled theme, but with the wind often blowing from the south or west, there has been a distinct lack of anything cold.

In fact today, the Met Office released some provisional figures for what the weather has delivered during the first half of November.

autumn_colours_g_wp

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that it has been wetter and warmer than would be expected at this point of the month, although there has been a large degree of regional variation.

Warmer than average

From 1-16 November, the mean temperature (an average of day and night temperatures) was 8.1C, which is 1.9C above the November average.

For south east England and East Anglia, mean temperatures have been even more anomalous than other parts of the UK, at 2.5C above normal.

Winds often coming from a southerly to westerly direction has meant that the UK has been bathed in mild air, leading to higher and normal temperatures.

Also, the cloud brought by the mild, moist air has led to very few frosts so far this month, which has contributed to the above-normal temperatures.

Wetter than average

The first half of November has not only delivered warmth, but plenty of moisture, with low pressure being the grey_london_g_wpdominant force in our weather.

As a whole, the UK has had 77 per cent of its average rainfall so far this month, when only around 53 per cent would be expected at this point in November.

Northern Ireland has been the wettest part of the UK, already experiencing 134 per cent of its average November rainfall, with south eastern parts of the country having 200 per cent.

What will the rest of November bring?

The state of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere at the moment is making it very hard to get a sense of what the weather will do across the UK for the second half of November.

It seems that the rest of this week will deliver a lot of dry weather for most, with a blocking area of high pressure to the north east of us.

forecast_chartHP_MO_wpHowever, beyond next weekend, there is a great deal of variation in what the different weather computer models are predicting.

I think that the weather for second half of the month is unlikely to be as wet as the first half, so the extremes of rainfall seen so far may well be slightly muted when the figures for the whole month are complied.

As for temperatures, there are no signs of any notable cold spells on the way, with temperatures looking to be around average, so a mild month overall looks very likely.

Don’t forget, you can get the latest forecast on the Channel 4 Weather website. I’ll also be posting regular updates on Twitter – @liamdutton

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