In what was a very disturbed month with severe impacts across much of the UK, by contrast Cumbria was really rather quiet.

  It probably veered to being slightly cheerless, but it was much drier than average and just a little warmer than average. The first ten days of the month were especially warm, both by day and night. However, the whole period of 11th to 31st ran below average; to still finish warmer than average demonstrated the warmth of those first ten days.

  The month opened with some rain every day up to the 6th (and was especially wet 4-6th in the LDNP), but was then virtually dry 7-17th. The rest of the month saw some rain on all but the 22nd, but most of this was light and patchy, apart from the 19th and 28th which saw greater falls (although that of the latter was mainly overnight). However, had it not been for a particularly wet period overnight into the 1st Nov', the month would have finished with less than half of its average rainfall as opposed to the final percentage of 58%.

  Really, for us, the month saw no 'interesting' weather at all. There was a pair of air frosts around mid-month, but the number of ground frosts (9) was slightly above average.

  The general theme was a mixed one up to the 23rd after which it became quite cheerless with spells of rain, albeit the afternoons stayed cloudy but dry.

  The start of the month saw low pressure being more dominant or at least close to the UK, but with the occasional weak incursion of high pressure. High pressure briefly became dominant mid month to provide for a few sunny days and chilly nights, after which the month was broadly unsettled.

  Rainfall totals up to the 6th were actually non significant here in the east, but in the LDNP some very high totals were recorded during the 4-6th. Whilst Maulds Meaburn recorded 9.5 mm for the three days, Mickleden in the Langdale valley notched up 226.2 mm which included a fall of 124.6 mm on the 5th.

  But in a SW flow the mercury was particularly high for the time of season - the 1st opened with a maximum of 18.5°c, and after three slightly cooler days, rose again. This saw 19.1°c recorded on the 7th, but with a month's high of 19.5°c on the 9th. It had also been rather mild by night with only the 2nd and 3rd in the first eleven days falling into single digits; the 7th having a minimum of 14.3°c.

  From late on the 14th high pressure in the Atlantic moved east, became centred over the UK on the 16th, but continued east and had left the UK by the 17th. The skies became clear overnight into the 15th allowing for a fairly sharp air frost at -3.0°c, another air frost followed on the 17th with the days seeing some sunshine and maximum temperatures slightly below the norm'. In fact after the 10th only three more days would have maxima above average.

  Although there was some rain and wind, Storm Babet on the 19-20th missed Cumbria by and in a slack pressure gradient the 22nd - 23rd weren't too bad with some sunshine and no rain. From the 23rd a deep and large area of low pressure out in the Atlantic became the dominant feature, its associated fronts extending out over the UK. However, rainfall totals weren't excessive, 11.0 mm on the 28th being the most in the period, although the majority of this fell overnight into the 29th.

  The days were that bit chillier, not aided by a fairly constant blanket of cloud, but they never dipped that far; 9.2°c on both the 25th and 30th being the lowest maximum's of the month.

  Whilst there was some rain during the morning of the 31st, the majority of its 18.0 mm actually fell overnight into the 1st November, but as this is credited back to the 31st, it made it the month's wettest day.

  MSLP of 1006.1 Mb was -6.1 MB below average for the month and overall a mean minimum of 6.71°c and a mean maximum of 13.25°c saw the temperature 0.35°c above the fourteen year average for this site.

  It was the coldest October since 2020 and since the record commenced (2009), six have been warmer and eight colder - the highest maximum temperature recorded during the month being 19.5°c (67.1°f - 9th), the lowest minimum -3.0°c (26.6°c - 15th).

  Rainfall of 75.4 mm (Maulds Meaburn North 74.6 mm -- Castlehowe Scar 94.7 mm) was 58.0% of average for 2007-22, making it the driest October since 2016. And since the record commenced (2007) four have been drier and twelve have been wetter.

  During the month the following 'days of' were recorded: none at all -- the wind speed averaged 4.84 mph, with a maximum gust of 41 mph (20th).

  We had 2 Air Frosts in the month (year 34)          --          Grass Frosts totalled 9 (year 74).

  The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 10.1°c on the 27th        to      a high of 15.0°c on the 10-11th     --      with a monthly mean of 12.1°c

  The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 11.5°c on the 31st      to      a high of 14.1°c on the 3rd     --     with a monthly mean of 13.0°c

   This makes the Jan' to October period of 2023 0.85°c warmer than the average for 2009-22 and with 109.1% of average rainfall for 2008-22

  At the Met' Office site at Shap a mean minimum of 5.9°c and a mean maximum of 12.6°c saw the monthly mean temperature 0.65°c above average. It was the coldest October since 2020 and since the record commenced (1992), 12 have been warmer and 19 colder.

  Rainfall of 129.2 mm represents 69.9% of its average. It was the driest October since 2016 and since the record commenced (1989), 8 have been drier and 26 wetter.

  Cumbria Rainfall

  Quite broadly October saw rainfall below the average, but with just a few exceptions, these tending to be towards the outer edges of the county.

  Barrow, Spadeadam, Barrass and Thursby do not share any particular geographical connection, but this month they all finished with rainfall above the LTA. Apart from a few other exceptions the county was drier than average, more reliably towards the west coast, where Seaton (Nr Workington) managed to fall below 50% of its LTA.

  Those other exceptions were to be found in the LDNP and did so on the back of a very wet three days 4-6th. This saw Mickleden (Langdale valley) finish with the greatest fall (391.2 mm) for the month of which 226.2 mm fell during the 4-6th. It endured a fall of 124.6 mm on the 5th which was followed by 80.2 mm on the 6th. Whilst this ensured it finished wetter than average it was still a little way behind the 130% at Spadeadam.

  In the east of the county it tended to be the driest October since 2016, but further west only since 2019.

  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 53.4 mm (LTA of 91.4 mm) represents 58.4% of its average (1856-2022) and made it the driest since 2016 - since the record commenced, 35 have been drier and 132 have been wetter.

  Kirkby Thore 47.4 mm -- (80.6 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 79.6 mm -- (100.7 mm)

  Brothers Water 242.72 mm -- (290.4 mm)

  Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale) 326.8 mm -- (354.7 mm [average for 1845-2022]) - making it the driest since 2019 and since 1845 when the record commenced, 84 have been drier and 94 have been wetter.