Surely sometime soon there will be a month that provides something good and positive to write about, but in the meantime it only goes from bad to worse!

   November with 186.5 mm is the wettest month of the year so far and the wettest of any month since the infamous November of 2009 and somewhat staggeringly, the sixth consecutive month to record 100 mm+ of rain. Using Newton Rigg's rainfall figures from 1961, the most consecutive month's to record 100 mm+ is just four and that is just on the one occasion.

   The month was generally cyclonic with winds mainly from a south westerly quarter and hence it was unsettled with only a few brief settled spells. Rainfall was consistent throughout the month, but during the 22nd-26th became more sustained, with the 22nd being the sixth wettest day recorded at this site.

   After a cold first week to the month temperatures recovered and from the 6th-22nd daytime temperatures were often above average and only a very cold end to the month saw the mean temperature for the month (5.28°c) tumble below the long term average.

   Making comparisons with the Met' Office site at Newton Rigg (Penrith) from 1961, using the averages for the standard period 1981-2010 (mean temperature of 5.9°c and 100.1 mm of rain), 28 November's have been warmer, 19 have been colder, with four having the same mean temperature. In the same period whilst five November's have had similar rainfall only 2009 has been wetter.

   1st - 5th    The month commenced under the influence of low pressure (LP) but with a cooler airmass and this LP was responsible for keeping it unsettled and quite cold, with showers and some longer spells of rain being common for the first three days.

   Barometric pressure dropped to 973.7 Mb on the 1st and some of those showers on the 2nd and 3rd were wintry in that cooler air. Then the 4-5th whilst both dry and starting with air frosts, were in total contrast to each other as we now sat in the slack area of the LP. The 4th was a beautiful sunny day and then fog lingered throughout the day on the 5th.

   Through this period ground frosts were recorded every day and the Northern Pennines and Lakeland fells had a cover of snow down to approximately 800 ft.

   6th - 8th    Became milder, but remained unsettled with (LP) still dominant. The UK sat in a broad warm sector and warm fronts moved through on the 6th, bringing some rain. All three days were overcast and all just scraped over the 10°c mark with that cloud ensuring that the nights were also mild.

   9th - 10th    With LP to our north west which swept cold fronts over the UK it remained unsettled and the 9th was a grim day with rain (10.6 mm) throughout and which became quite murky in the afternoon. The 10th saw a slight improvement but only to a mix of sunny intervals and showers and it and the 11th became a little cooler.

   11th    A slight ridge of high pressure (HP) saw the weekend end with a decent sunny day, but it only lasted the one day as LP returned.

   12th - 13th    During this period and indeed continuing beyond, were a miserable few days as numerous fronts associated to an area of LP near Iceland brought two wet days with 13.8 mm of rain on the 13th.

   It was much milder though with 10°c attained each day through 12-15th, with 11.2°c (52.2°f) on the 12th.

   14th - 16th    Was a dreary spell with mist and murk lingering through the majority of the days. HP over eastern Europe held Atlantic weather fronts at bay over Scotland and whilst as such we stayed dry and mild, the murk was the downside. Rain then arrived late evening 16th as a developing warm front pushed north out of the English Channel.

   17th - 18th    A slight ridge of HP built to give clearer and cooler conditions and the 18th saw a sunny start with a sharp ground frost (-3.3°c). But cloud built steadily during the day ahead of further LP systems that would bring a wet and unsettled week. Something positive - at least 3 out the 4 Sunday's in the month enjoyed some sunny weather!

   19th - 27th    The working week and then beyond, would be wet as a continuous stream of LP systems arrived from the Atlantic. Rain overnight 18/19th saw 13.1mm credited back to the 18th and the 19-20th were grim days with long spells of rain with both topping 10mm of rain. But as is so often the case in autumn/winter, one of the poorer days has the month's highest temperature and 12.6°c (54.7°f) was a month's high on the 20th.

   The 21st saw a slight lull as we sat within a slacker area of LP, but that was only ahead of a significant and new LP system that would bring heavy rain and gale force winds on the 22nd. This was courtesy of a broad area of LP near Iceland that had a long trailing cold front that arrived lunchtime and brought heavy rain and gusts upto 44 mph.

   That rain of 39.3 mm on the 22nd was at its heaviest mid afternoon with a peak rain rate of 120.0 mm per hour and over 1/2 inch of rain falling between 3-4 p.m. and which caused some flooding locally. But it wasn't over yet as the 23rd-25th saw a combined total of 36.5 mm of rain as a succession of LP systems built in Biscay and moved north, albeit these days also had some brighter moments as that rain tended to fall late in the evening and overnight.

   It was these LP systems that caused the flooding elsewhere in the UK, but thankfully we avoided the worst.

   28th - 30th    Became much colder as at last the rain stopped but a cold northerly airflow was introduced; drawn down due to LP to the east and HP that was slowly building in the Atlantic and moving east.

   Brighter conditions arrived on the 28th, but temperatures were tumbling and the 29th started with a sharp frost of -4.6°c and the day was distinctly chilly. However, the frost on the 30th was severe and the month's coldest at -6.0°c (21.2°f) and despite some cloud, the day remained below freezing, only rising after midnight as a band of rain moved south.

   This meant that using 09-0900 hrs readings that both the 29th and 30th were the months coldest days with just 1.9°c (35.4°f) recorded on both.

   CONCLUSION    Very wet, dull and cool and like October, November was significantly colder than its counterpart in 2011 and November as now become, on average, the wettest of any month at this site.

   Rainfall totalled 186.5 mm for the month, with rain recorded on 24 days of which 21 were 'Wet days' (1.0mm +).

   The Mean Temperature for the month was 5.28°c      --      The Mean Max' was   7.87°c     --      The Mean Min'   2.69°c.

   We had 6 Air Frosts in the month (year 50)              --      Grass frosts totalled 15 (year 118).

   The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 4.3°c on the 30th         to      a high of 8.4°c on the 15-16th     --      with a monthly mean of 6.9°c

   The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 7.8°c on the 30th      to      a high of 9.5°c on the 1st      --     with a monthly mean of 8.6°c

COMPARISONS:-

   * November 2012 rainfall was 132.5% of the November average for 2007 - 2011

   * November 2012 was 2.84°c colder than November 2011      --      1.45°c warmer November 2010      --      1.48°c colder than 2009

  * The 3 month mean for September/October/November 2012 is                   TEMP'     8.10°c        --          RAIN    430.9 mm


  *                     September/October/November 2011 was                   TEMP'    10.69°c        --          RAIN    347.7 mm

  *                     September/October/November 2010 was                   TEMP'     8.37°c        --          RAIN    305.4 mm

  *                     September/October/November 2009 was                   TEMP'     9.67°c        --          RAIN    411.2 mm

  *                     September/October/November 2008 was                   TEMP'                   --          RAIN    428.3 mm

  *                     September/October/November 2007 was                   TEMP'                   --          RAIN    198.7 mm

     

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                                          * 2012    To date                   TEMP'     8.74°c        --          RAIN     1175.7 mm

                                          * 2011  Jan - Nov                   TEMP'     9.60°c        --          RAIN     1125.3 mm

                                          * 2010  Jan - Nov                   TEMP'     8.29°c        --          RAIN     678.6 mm

                                          * 2009  Jan - Nov                   TEMP'     9.50°c        --          RAIN     1171.5 mm

                                          * 2008  Jan - Nov                   TEMP'                   --          RAIN    1290.0 mm