September enjoyed both a good start and end to the month whilst the middle part was generally changeable with rain fairly frequent. It became cold mid month and with some quite dull and murky days; all this saw the month's mean temperature of 12.26°c marginally and insignificantly just below average.

   From the 19th it became quieter, drier and more typical of autumn and in what was a dry month the 68.4 mm of rainfall here at Maulds Meaburn was in keeping with the Enviroment Agency's rainfall sites, which, taking all the figures together was typically only 75% of the local September average.

   But just like August, uneventful was the general theme, especially during the second half of the month.

   Figures from the Enviroment Agency’s rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1961-90): Kirkby Thore 52.2 mm (69.7 mm) , Brothers Water 169.6 mm (243 mm) and Nunwick Hall 62.8 mm (79.3 mm) but that percentage increased to 85% further west with 251.4 mm recorded at Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale). - ‘Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Enviroment Agency (Penrith)’.

   1st - 4th    The month started warm and dry as high pressure (HP) built over the UK from the south west. Initially as we sat at the HP's northerly edge there was a brisk westerly flow, but by the 3rd the HP was dominant, bringing sunny and settled conditions.

   This saw the 2nd-4th all attain 20° with the month's warmest day coming on the 4th with 22.1°c (71.78°f).

   5th - 14th    It all now became somewhat changeable, rain or showers were frequent with temperatures often below the seasonal average. Low pressure (LP) was the dominant feature apart from temporary visits of HP, 10th and 14th, with a series of frontal systems sweeping across the UK.

   Overnight 5-6th a cold front associated to LP north of Scotland moved east bringing a band of rain, which with troughs circulating in the LP made the 6th a wet and miserable day. This gave 6.7 mm of rain credited to the 5th and 19.7 mm to the 6th and which with a maximum of just 11.6°c felt autumnal.

   Thereafter the next few days tended to be a mix of showers and sunny intervals, but the 8th started with the first ground frost (-0.1°c) of the season and indeed the 8-9th were respectable, if cooler, with some sunshine before showery ends to the day.

   After a calm interlude on the 10th, yet another series of fronts moved east-west bringing outbreaks of rain. Grey was the theme, but it was also calm with light winds and this allowed the 12th to reach 18.0°c with light southerly winds.

   15th - 19th    A deepening area of LP north of Scotland with a series of associated fronts was quite slow moving from the 15th and gave us the first good blow of autumn. Albeit, whilst wet and windy, it wasn't anything too drastic, but the temperature plunged even lower during this period with day-time maximum's some 6° down on average.

   The 15th saw winds gusting to 44 Mph and was the month's wettest day with 20.1 mm of rain and then the 16-17th both struggled to climb over 10° and were both drab and showery with some longer periods of rain; the 17th at just 10.1°c (50.18°f) being the month's coldest daytime maximum (just 8.6°c at the Blencathra Met' Office site).

   20th - 30th    HP began to ridge in from the south west late on the 19th giving a return to settled conditions. This saw an increase in temperatures with some particularly mild nights, but whilst generally dry and calm, sunshine was initially at a premium with some grey and drab days.

   That HP drew up warm and moist air of tropical origins from the south west, further modified by its long journey over the Atlantic and then with no wind to stir it up once it arrived, the murk descended. It usually wasn't until the afternoon when the murk lifted as the sun managed to burn it back, but at best we only saw a brief and hazy sun.

   There was one good day amongst the murk though as on the 22nd the sun did shine and even late into September the mercury responds well to sunshine, a maximum of 20.9°c being the result.

   The HP became established over the near continent, extending over the UK and the lack of wind was typified on the 23rd when the maximum gust of wind that day was just 6 Mph. As well as the murk, heavy dews resulted and these were heavy enough to fill the gauge with 0.1 mm of 'rain' on two mornings.

   A cold front slowly meandered south from Scotland during the 25th and this brought a marginally cooler feel and now the HP began a north easterly migration and which would now clear the murk and bring a fine end to the month.

   From the 27th the HP was centred to the east of the UK, introducing milder temperatures but with a brisk and cooling easterly wind. This did clear the murky conditions though and brought a welcome return to sunnier conditions.

  Note:-    For the last few months the Met' Office had kindly provided their data for Newton Rigg direct to myself in time for this report, but their National Climate information Centre have now advised that they are unable to keep doing this. Initially they did not say why, but below is their reply:

   "In reference to as why the NCIC team cannot continue supplying you with the emails is due to the time and cost for them to do so. This is not a service that is available from the Met Office. Should you wish to have a service like this set up, then I am sure that our Sales Team would be pleased to supply you with a quotation of how much that would cost. The data is available on our website, as you are already aware. The NCIC team helped you previously, due to the lateness of the data being available on our website, but it is not their place in which to supply you with regular emails with the said data."

   The reference to 'the data on our website' refers to a number of stations in the UK on which they have re-produced 'Historic' data back to 1959 and which is also kept up to date. They update their site with the previous months data typically on or around the 17th of the following month. The 17th is too late to be included in the report that I submit to the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald and hence the reason for my request to them at the start of the month.

   Also locally the Met' Office have sites at Warcop, keswick, Shap and others and they do not include the monthly data from these sites on their website. They are aware of how the data was used, but the best that they are prepared to offer, as above, is to sell me it!

   Rainfall totalled 68.4 mm for the month, with rain recorded on 14 days of which 12 were 'Wet days' (1.0mm +).

   The Mean Temperature for the month was 12.26°c      --      The Mean Max' was   16.17°c     --      The Mean Min'   8.35°c.

   We had 0 Air Frosts in the month (year 68)                  --      Grass frosts totalled 1 (year 101).

   The 1 foot soil temp ranged from a low of 12.4°c on the 18-19th         to      a high of 16.0°c on the 3rd - 4th     --      with a monthly mean of 14.0°c

   The 1 meter soil temp ranged from a low of 12.5°c on the 23rd-12th      to      a high of 14.4°c on the 1st and 3rd      --     with a monthly mean of 13.4°c

COMPARISONS:-

   * September 2013 rainfall was 72.6% of the September average for 2007 - 2012

   * September 2013 was 0.14°c colder than the September average for 2009 - 2012 and 0.04°c warmer than the local long term average 1981-2010

  * The 3 month mean for July/August/September 2013 is              TEMP'    14.89°c         --          RAIN    310.4 mm


  *                     July/August/September 2012 was              TEMP'    13.29°c         --          RAIN    377.5 mm

  *                     July/August/September 2011 was              TEMP'    13.42°c         --          RAIN    305.2 mm

  *                     July/August/September 2010 was              TEMP'    13.58°c         --          RAIN    254.7 mm

  *                     July/August/September 2009 was              TEMP'    14.00°c         --          RAIN    341.4 mm

  *                     July/August/September 2008 was              TEMP'                                RAIN    364.7 mm

  *                     July/August/September 2007 was              TEMP'                                RAIN    276.5 mm


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                                    * 2013     To Date              TEMP'     8.96°c         --          RAIN    703.3 mm

                                    * 2012  Jan - Sept              TEMP'     9.25°c         --          RAIN    868.5 mm

                                    * 2011  Jan - Sept              TEMP'     9.62°c         --          RAIN    904.5 mm

                                    * 2010  Jan - Sept              TEMP'     8.74°c         --          RAIN    461.1 mm

                                    * 2009  Jan - Sept              TEMP'     9.74°c         --          RAIN    791.9 mm

                                    * 2008  Jan - Sept              TEMP'                    --          RAIN    985.7 mm