General and Barometric Pressure

  November was generally an uneventful month in Cumbria with both the mean temperature and rainfall finishing close to average and with no extremes of either encountered during the month. And it was also uneventful. This was in spite of the UK experiencing two named storms 'Ciaran' (2nd and 3rd) and 'Debi' (13th) which like those of October had only a little impact on our part of the world; although the latter did give a wet and windy day.

  With only a handful of dry days up to the 21st, the majority of the month was unsettled, wet and mild, but from the 24th the pattern changed to a much colder and drier one with cold air from Scandinavia drawn down over the UK. This brought wide-spread and quite severe frosts, sufficient enough to drag the mean temperature for the month below the LTA.

  Low pressure (LP) was very much dominant in the first half of the month, more often than not well below 1000MB up to the 14th and falling as far as 966.9 MB on the 2nd. Pressure did generally recover after this with high pressure (HP) now making occasional inroads over the UK.

  Consequently MSLP of 1001.9 Mb was -7.2 MB below average for the month and the month also finished as the calmest November in my records. Indeed twelve days in the month were 'calm' at the time of observation, which included all of the final six days of the month.

  This saw rain or showers 1st and 2nd, then dry 3rd and 4th and for most of the 5th, before a return to showers 6th. There were spells of fairly heavy rain 8-9th, albeit at its worst overnight; the 8th recording 18.6 mm. The 10-11th and even the start of the 12th were sunny, which with clearer skies allowed for slight air frosts 11-12th, before a more significant wet period was endured 12-20th.

  The month was at its wettest during Storm Debi with the 12th notching up 15.7 mm followed by 26.1 mm 13th with rain that lasted all day. A fall of 124.4 mm at Honister was the largest 24Hr fall in the UK during the month. It also became quite windy, a top gust of 50 Mph being recorded.

  The pattern remained unsettled through to the first part of the 21st with rain recorded each day.

  The 23rd - 24th saw a cold front move south across the UK from the north and which now brought a much cooler regime. This saw air frosts on all but one night for the rest of the month and day-time maxima failing to rise above 5°c. Whilst it didn't apply to every day, brighter conditions were more common in this final period. Fog was recorded on the morning of the 28th, but this soon cleared.

  As the month closed under the colder regime, the first snow of the season fell during the evening of the 29th. It was only very light, but enough to give a dusting.

  Temperature

  With a mean minimum of 2.96°c and a mean maximum of 8.79°c November 2023 saw the temperature 0.24°c below the fourteen year average for this site. This saw it being the coldest November since 2019 and since the record commenced (2009), eight have been warmer and six colder.

  Day-time maximum temperatures were generally above the seasonal average through to the 23rd with only a few days seeing temperatures fall below average. It was especially mild 18-19th and again 22nd and 23rd when maxima rose above 13°c; the 13.6°c of the 22nd being a month's high and included an overnight minimum of 10.1°c to start the 23rd.

  Apart from a few cooler nights and a pair of air frosts 11-12th, night-time minima were generally well above average in the same period, although there was a smattering of ground frosts up to the 23rd.

  After the 23rd it was all change. All but the 27th recorded air frosts, several of which were quite severe. A minimum of -6.1°c (21°f) on the 25th was the month's low (the -7.7°c at Shap was the UK's lowest temperature for the month), but both the 29-30th also saw quite sharp frosts (-5.5°c on the 29th).

  After those highs of the 22nd and 23rd, day-time maxima also took a plunge, to just 5.7°c on the 24th and then all apart from the 27th (just) every day had maxima below 5°c with just 1.6°c recorded on the 29th.

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 1.8°c and a mean maximum of 8.5°c saw the monthly mean temperature 0.3°c below average. It was the coldest November since 2019 and since the record commenced (1992), 19 have been warmer and 10 colder (no data in two of the years).

  Precipitation

  At Maulds Meaburn rainfall in November totalled 130.6 mm (5.14 In), this being 100.9% of the average for 2007-22, making it the driest November since 2021. And since the record commenced (2007), ten have been drier and six have been wetter.

  Rainfall was common and frequent up to the 21st, although a good proportion that fell did so during the evenings or early hours. From the 22nd just 5.5 mm was recorded.

  Locally rainfall at Maulds Meaburn North was 131.0 mm and at Castlehowe Scar 171.7 mm. At the Met' Office site at Shap, rainfall of 195.6 mm represents 95.4% of its average making it the driest November there since 2021. And since the record commenced (1989), twenty-one have been drier and thirteen 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 122.0 mm (LTA of 86.5 mm) represents 141% of its average (1856-2022) and made it the driest since 2021 - since the record commenced, 137 have been drier and 31 have been wetter.

  Kirkby Thore Faulty -- (85.2 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 136.9 mm -- (107.0 mm)

  Brothers Water 332.9 mm -- (315.9 mm)

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 436.6 mm -- (360.6 mm [average for 1845-2022]) - making it the driest since 2021 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 121 have been drier and 57 have been wetter.

  OTHER:-

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: snow fall and fog on one day each -- the wind speed averaged 3.53 mph, with a maximum gust of 50 mph (13th).

  We had 7 Air Frosts in the month (year 41)          --          Grass Frosts totalled 17 (year 91).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 5.0°c on the 30th        to      a high of 10.0°c on the 1st     --      with a monthly mean of 8.2°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 9.0°c on the 30th      to      a high of 11.5°c on the 1st and 2nd     --     with a monthly mean of 10.3°c

   This makes the Jan' to November period of 2023 0.76°c warmer than the average for 2009-22 and with 107.7% of average rainfall for 2008-22

  Cumbrian Rainfall

  Across the majority of the south of the county, west to east and just into the LDNP, November would finish wetter than average with Beetham Hall to the south of Milnthorpe the wettest of all when expressed as a percentage.

  Otherwise there were a few isolated locations with above average falls, but nothing excessive, with many sites having below average falls. There was no geographic nuance as to which part of the county was the driest; St. Bees having the lowest percentage fall.

  The month was relatively uneventful, but it was notable that the vast majority of the month's total fell in the first twenty days, when thereafter any rain tended to be light and patchy in nature.

  Whilst not quite everywhere, almost universally the 13th was the wettest day in the county, with a few sites in the LDNP notching up in excess of 100mm in the 24Hr period and indeed the 124.2 mm recorded at Honister was the greatest 24Hr fall anywhere in the UK during the month.

  The period of 12-14th was the wettest part of the month and over these three days Honister had a total fall of 209.0 mm - By comparison, with a fall of just 60.2 mm for the entire month, Crew House Filter (Near Bewcastle, in the very north east of the county) was the counties driest location.

  Impacts - Storm Debi on 13th brought the strongest winds to coastal areas of north-west England. In Cumbria, several thousand homes were without power for a time

  Snow - whilst a good number of sites saw a little snow at the end of the month, at a few sites of higher elevation there was also a fall on the 12th. At Shap four days saw laying snow, albeit to a level depth of only 1 cm.