November was a very mild month with little in the way of frost and overall it was a fairly quiet month. However, it was often dull and grey with few cheerful days and whilst we got rid of the month's wettest day on the 1st, rain, whilst not especially heavy, still fell on most days - overall a cheerless month.

  The month began mild and wet, the 1st especially which was both the wettest and warmest day of the month, before a brief quieter and settled period during the 4-7th. After this it turned unsettled and was very mild both by day and night. The unsettled weather was blown in on a strong S-SSW airflow with it being wet and windy through the 11-17th in particular.

  A brief northerly airflow gave a cool day on the 19th, but the theme was still of unsettled conditions before it became more settled and cooler from the 26th.

  Both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were well above average and equally so. It was only the two air frosts towards the end of the month that brought some respectability to the final total (3) for the month

  MSLP of 1051.1 Mb was +4.3 MB above the local average for the month and overall a mean minimum of 4.53°c and a mean maximum of 10.53°c saw the temperature 1.74°c above the eleven year average for this site.

  It was the warmest since 2015 and of the twelve now recorded, two have been warmer and nine have been colder - the highest maximum temperature recorded being 14.5°c (1st), the lowest minimum -3.0°c (28th).

  Rainfall of 137.2 mm (Maulds Meaburn North 131.1 mm -- Castlehowe Scar 159.9 mm) was 104.6% of average for 2007-19 and made it the wettest November since 2018. Of the fourteen now recorded, four have been wetter and nine have been drier.

  During the month the following was recorded: nothing! No snow, no hail, no fog - it was really quite boring and dull. The wind speed averaged 6.87 mph, with a maximum gust of 56 mph (1st).

  At the Met' Office site at Newton Rigg a mean temperature of 7.81°c is 1.9°c warmer than average and is the warmest since 2014. In a series back to 1953, 64 have been colder and 3 have been warmer.

  Rainfall totalled 90.6 mm (90.5% of average), making it the wettest since 2018. Since 1900 when the record began, 52 have been wetter and 68 have been drier.

  At Appleby in Westmorland a total of 96.7 mm represented 111.9% of its average (1856-2019) and made it the wettest since 2017 - in a record that commenced in 1856, 106 have been wetter and 58 drier.

  At Seathwaite Farm it was the wettest since 2015 and in a record that commenced in 1845 it was the equal 25th wettest.

  Rainfall totals across Cumbria were generally above average, but not everywhere. The LDNP saw averages up to 150% and this was the wettest part of the county, but even out east Appleby was above average, but parts of the Eden Valley and the coastal fringes saw averages close to and in some cases below average.

  Figures from the Environment Agency’s rainfall sites were, (figure in brackets being the monthly average for 1961-90)   ‘Data kindly provided by the Hydrometry and Telemetry team of the Environment Agency (Penrith)’:

  Kirkby Thore ** mm (65.8 mm)

  Haresceugh Castle (Kirkoswald) 67.86 mm (91.9 mm)

  Brothers Water 342.27 mm (271 mm) and

  Orton (Shallowford) ??? mm (180.1 mm [average for 1967-2019])

  558.8 mm at Seathwaite Farm (Borrowdale - 374 mm [average for 1981-2010]).

  ** not available due to faults with the gauge

  General Synoptic Report for the Month

   Low pressure (LP) from the end of October was dominant at the start of the month bringing a very wet day (32.0 mm) on the 1st. The rain arrived at lunch-time and stayed through to the early hours of the 2nd and was heavy at times during the evening of the 1st and was accompanied by strong winds that gusted to 56 Mph. The mild airflow also so the 1st finish as the month's warmest day at 14.5°c (58.1°f) - but the mildest, wettest and windiest day is not a thing of beauty.

  In Appleby In Westmorland, the heavy rain caused the River Eden to breach its banks onto The Sands during the early hours of the 2nd but fortunately no properties were flooded.

  Showers were the theme for the 2nd and 3rd which saw high pressure (HP) in the Atlantic building and slowly beginning to extend over the UK. That HP would elongate east-west over the UK over the next few days before LP in Biscay would move north during the 7th, arriving on the 8th. Whilst we were under the influence of the HP we enjoyed some sun and dry weather and whilst the night-times were cool, only the 7th had a slight air frost.

  The weather would now become unsettled and remain so - the HP would remain a constant feature over Europe, but now the UK saw a constant stream of LP systems arriving from off the Atlantic. With the HP over Europe, those LP systems tended to be pushed north-east to the west of Eire thus giving a mild southerly flow. Subsequently it was frequently murky, breezy, wet and very mild.

  Initially rainfall totals were fairly slight, but from the 13th they began to rack up quite quickly, but it was probably the endless grey and drab skies that was the most depressing aspect to the weather. Day-time maximums were steadily above 10°c (although such as the 15-16th saw the maximum temperature fall overnight) and under the blanket of cloud night-time minima were very mild, ranging 6-9°c.

  Both the 15th (16.5mm) and the 18th (14.9mm) recorded rainfall totals in excess of 10mm and the 18th was excessively mild overnight at 10°c. The 19th though saw a transient ridge of HP from Biscay push north and which had a cooler NW'ly flow over its top and which saw a sudden, but brief dip in temperatures. A maximum of 5.8°c on the 19th was followed by the 20th just failing to notch up an air frost with 0.0°c, but already that HP was giving way.

  Whilst the 20th was a grey and drizzly day under a frontal system pushing across the UK, after a similar start to the 21st, the afternoon did enjoy some sunny spells and this was repeated on the 22nd as the UK sat clear of any fronts.

  However, the period of the 7th to 21st had seen a 'Rain Spell', 15 consecutive days on which rain had been recorded and continued the theme of a disappointing autumn,; the 17th October to 3rd November being another such (18 day) rain spell.

  The 23rd saw an area of LP to the south of Iceland pushing fronts towards the UK with rain arriving at 1400 hrs, lasting through the night to give 15.8mm. The 24th was another grey day with further rain through to the afternoon.

  Behind the fronts a slight ridge of HP pushed in and the next few days so much quieter conditions, but with little sunshine, late morning and afternoon of the 25th the only brighter part of the period. It fell calm and with it day-time temperatures dropped slightly, (the 25th is a sight curiosity as it is the only November day in my records that has never attained 10°c), but there was far too much cloud to worry about any night-time frosts, that is until the 27-28th when the cloud broke sufficiently overnight to allow a surprisingly sharp frost at -3.0°c.

  Come 0900 hrs on the 28th the temperature was still below freezing, but a warm front over the Midlands was slowly pushing NW, weakening slightly as it did so brought mist and cloud for the final two days of the month with a slight recovery in the temperature.

    AUTUMN

  Wetter and generally slightly warmer(^) than average.

  A very mild November has tended to off-set the cooler than average months of September and October and whilst rainfall has not been excessive, it has been fairly constant, more so in October and November to finish that bit wetter than average - overall though, a fairly disappointing season. There was no real warmth in September and both October and November were really quite dull and lacking of any decent spells of sunshine.

  September was a cold month, especially towards its close with a good number of nights experiencing ground frosts. October was wet at both ends, but especially during the final third and November was uneventful, but dull and mild.

  Maulds Meaburn recorded 377.7 mm of rain (112.5% of average) (Mauld Meaburn North 359.8 mm) which makes it the wettest since 2018. Of the fourteen now recorded nine have been drier and four have been wetter.

  A mean temperature of 9.21°c is the warmest since 2017 and at this site is 0.06°c colder than the average of the previous eleven (^at sites with a 30yr record in Cumbria it tended to be slightly warmer than average). Of the twelve now recorded five have been colder and six have been warmer.

  At Newton Rigg rainfall totalled 334.8 mm and had a mean temperature of 9.48°c. In comparison to the 1981-2010 averages this represents 123.6% of autumn rainfall and it was 0.58°c warmer than average.

  This makes the autumn of 2020 the 23rd wettest in a series back to 1900 (3 yrs of missing data) and with 52 having been colder, 14 warmer and 1 with the same mean temperature in a series back to 1953.

  At Appleby In Westmorland autumn rainfall totalled 296.8 mm (117%), making it the wettest since 2018 and in that record back to 1856, 38 have been wetter and 126 drier.

  At Seathwaite autumn rainfall totalled 1314.2 mm (131.3%), making it the wettest since 2017 and in that record back to 1856 it is the 26th wettest.