General and Barometric Pressure

  After an unsettled and wet start to the month it then became much cooler and quieter with some fog, becoming notably cold during the 14-19th with a flow of Arctic air. However, the change back to unsettled conditions was instant with the final third of the month being very disturbed and having two named storms. These storms 'Isha' and 'Jocelyn' brought gales and very large amounts of rain that became a constant feature through to the month's end. During Isha there was flooding in the village and surrounding area.

  The month had a little bit of everything, even some fine sunny days, but it will be defined by that final third which ensured it would be labelled as 'grim'; after all, it has finished as the wettest January in my records.

  In spite of the disturbed nature of the month MSLP of 1015.3 Mb was +3.4 MB above average, being as high as 1042.9 MB on the 11th, but falling to 977.7 MB on the 21st during Isha. Up to the 18th the month was extremely calm , but thereafter the wind was as constant as the rain. This period saw winds dominantly from the SW and gales were recorded on four days and gave some sleepless nights. Whilst gusts exceeding 50 Mph were recorded on five days, of which four exceeded 60 Mph, the most in my records for a single month.

  Storms 'Isha' and 'Jocelyn' were brutal. After an absolute soaking of 38.2 mm on the 20th from an Atlantic frontal system, Storm Isha on the 21st / 22nd slammed into the UK bringing torrential rainfall of 63.8 mm on the 21st and winds that come the evening were constantly gusting over 60 Mph, a maximum gust of 69 Mph being recorded. With over 100 mm of rain in the two days flooding was inevitable. The gales continued overnight into the 22nd before abating only slightly, but after a transitional day that in reality was also poor, Storm Jocelyn arrived on the 23rd.

  This time the rain wasn't as heavy, just 23.7 mm, but the winds weren't that far behind that of Isha, gusting to 66 Mph on the 23rd and continuing overnight into the 24th up to 62 Mph for yet another night of disturbed sleep. However, once Jocelyn cleared away east the day slowly calmed down with a slight ridge of high pressure pushing north out of Europe.

  The cool spell during the 6-9th saw fog being prominent 6-7th and whilst night-time lows were nothing out of the ordinary, under a permanent fog the 7th was bitter cold and would remain below freezing all day with a maximum temperature of -0.2°c.

  Then the cold spell of the 14-19th saw a number of severe frosts with night-time minima below -5°c on three nights, dropping to -8.8°c on the 18th. The 16th did see a little snow during the day but this amounted to no more than a dusting (although it was a little deeper at the south end of Crosby Ravensworth).

  After the storms of the 21st and 23rd rainfall was a constant and would be heavy on the 25th (18.6 mm) and especially the 29th (34.0 mm).

  The four days with gales (a gale is a 10 minute average wind speed of at least 39 Mph) saw the following average speeds: 21st at 2300Hrs of 48 Mph -- 22nd at 0020 Hrs of 41 Mph -- 23rd at 2350 Hrs of 39 Mph -- 24th at 0240 Hrs of 41 Mph.

  Temperature

  With a mean minimum of 0.79°c and a mean maximum of 6.00°c January 2024 saw the temperature 0.05°c above the fifteen year average for this site. This saw it being the coldest January since 2021 and since the record commenced (2009), eight have been warmer and seven colder.

  Up to the 20th the month was running well below the average, but now it would become mild with no more frosts and only the 29th would have a maximum below the seasonal norm'. Whilst not excessively so, the first five days of the month were also mild, before a more prolonged cooler stint with air frosts recorded on the majority of nights.

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of -0.40°c and a mean maximum of 5.90°c saw the monthly mean temperature 0.25°c below average. It was the coldest January since 2021 and since the record commenced (1997), sixteen have been warmer and eight colder.

  Precipitation

  At Maulds Meaburn rainfall in January totalled 243.1 mm (9.57 In), this being 178.9% of the average for 2007-23, making it the wettest January yet recorded at this site (since 2008 and beating both 2008 and 2009 both of which remarkably recorded 226.2 mm).

  The first two days of the month had a combined total of 33.5 mm to ensure a wet start to the year, but after this there was hardly anything until the early hours of the 20th. The fog on the 6th was thick and prolonged enough to give 0.3 mm, but the only other fall in the period was on the 16th (3.1 mm) a total that combined snow and rain.

  Over the final twelve days of the month 194.3 mm of rain would fall, three of those being over an inch (25.4 mm). The two day total of 102.0 mm on the 20th - 21st is only the second time in my records when 100mm has been topped in consecutive days and the 63.8 mm made the 21st the equal fifth wettest in my records.

  Locally rainfall at Maulds Meaburn North was 260.0 mm and at Castlehowe Scar 315.2 mm. At the Met' Office site at Shap, rainfall of 357.8 mm represents 153.2% of its average making it the wettest January there since 2008. And since the record commenced (1989), twenty-nine have been drier and six wetter.

  Figures from the Environment Agency's rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1991-2020)   'Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)':

  At Appleby in Westmorland rainfall of 167.5 mm (LTA of 93.0 mm) represents 180.1% of its average (1857-2023) and made it the wettest since 2008 - since the record commenced, 157 have been drier and 10 have been wetter.

  Kirkby Thore 122.4 -- (77.7 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 114.33 mm -- (91.4 mm)

  Brothers Water 447.0 mm -- (333.4 mm)

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 465.4 mm -- (377.4 mm [average for 1845-2023]) - making it the driest since 2022 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 130 have been drier and 49 have been wetter.

  OTHER:-

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: snow fell on three days, hail on one -- fog on one day -- gales on four days -- the wind speed averaged 6.39 mph, with a maximum gust of 69 mph (21st) with gusts of 50 Mph or more recorded on five days, four of which went on to top 60 Mph.

  We had 11 Air Frosts in the month (year 11)          --          Grass Frosts totalled 19 (year 19).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 2.0°c on the 20th and 21st        to      a high of 6.2°c on the 4-5th     --      with a monthly mean of 4.7°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 5.7°c on the 21st and 22nd      to      a high of 8.0°c on the 1st     --     with a monthly mean of 6.8°c

  Cumbrian Rainfall

  All apart from at Seaton (Workington - 95%), January finished wetter than average across Cumbria, but even within a single month rainfall was unevenly distributed.

  This saw large totals on the first two days of the month, some locations having in excess of 50mm across the two days and in spite of the rain to come later in the month, locations as diverse and distant to each other as Wasdale and Haresceugh, recorded their wettest day of the month on the 2nd.

  Fairly broadly it then dried up, there was still a little precipitation 3rd to the 7th, although totally insignificant; but through to the 19th it was generally quite dry apart from some snowfall on the 16th.

  However, the change to very wet was instant come the 20th (which with the rain arriving overnight into the 20th did see rain credited back to the 19th – almost an inch at Wet Sleddale [Shap]).

  And that rain just kept on falling throughout the 20th and ultimately into the early hours of the 22nd. Along with gales being experienced at the time and also with some mountain snow-melt, flooding ensued in various parts of the county, although at locations such as Appleby In Westmorland there was a sense of having got away with it this time. Here the flood siren was sounded at 9 p.m. on Sunday (20th) and the river level peaked about 1:30 a.m. at just over 3.7 m at its height; it needs to be 3.1m to burst its banks to go over at The Sands.

  Some of the two and three day rainfall totals across this period were notably significant; and the majority of the highest falls were to be found through a narrow belt running south-north with Shap towards its northern end. Wet Sleddale (this is separate shallow valley just to the S-SW of Shap and where the EA have a rain gauge [called Wet Sleddale] and the Met' Office have a fully automated synoptic weather station just 500m from the EA rain gauge but which curiously is called 'Shap', even though it is in Wet Sleddale!

  This 'area' would see the concentration of the heaviest rainfall - across the two days of the 20th and 21st Wet Sleddale would record 216.93 mm and with the three day total (19th - 21st) of 241.65 mm -- Totals falls from other locations included:

                                                                  20th - 21st        19th - 21st

                                   Brothers Water          162.85              196.98

                   Burnbanks (Haweswater)          170.20              185.60

  Demmings Moss (Shap Summit A6)          211.40              225.80

          Greenside Mines (Glenridding)          182.70              205.30

                                              Honister          159.20              238.00

                                                    Shap          144.40              162.20

  Yet at some sites across Cumbria less than 20mm was recorded across the two days of 20th - 21st

  And it stayed wet!

  Rainfall during this final third of the month was unrelenting with a number of very wet days, in particular the 23rd, 25th and the 29th. In some ways Greenside Mines typified the wetness of this period as out of a monthly total of 430.8 mm, 377.7 mm of that fell during the 19th to 31st (with 35.2 mm have fallen on the 1st and 2nd).

  Two locations, Appleby In Westmorland (180.1%) and Barrow, Palace Nook (181.0%), again quite diverse and distant to each other, would top the greatest percentage fall, but more typically totals were in the region of 125% of the LTA, but with a broad spread.

  Impacts - were minimal during the cold spell, but significant during Storms Isha and Jocelyn, especially the former. There was flooding in locations such as Appleby and some villages and many communities lost their electricity supply. Electricity North West stated that more than 50,000 customers were affected by Storm Isha with almost 2000 still without power two days later.

  Apart from the exceptionally high rainfall totals, high winds (a gust of 82 Mph was recorded at Shap) were responsible for bringing down trees and power lines. Several sections of the M6 were closed due to lorries having been blown over during Isha and the A66 was closed during both storms, due to flooding and fallen trees during Isha.