Monday 01 December 2014
Unsurprising a Dull Start to December
No change in the weather pattern for the start of December and metrological winter. It was a dull, dry day with average temperatures. Colder weather is forecast for the rest of the week with the possibility of night time frosts.
Watching Countryfile on BBC TV on Sunday evening I was surprised when the weatherman summarised autumn as sunnier than average.
He didn’t say that some places had been lucky enough to have a sunny autumn the implication was everybody had been treated to something special. Well not everyone has. The table above shows that as far as sunshine records go we’ve had a miserable autumn. September and November recorded the lowest sunshine records over the last five years and October managed fourth place out of the five years. It certainly hasn’t been an autumn to remember because we’ve had lots of sunshine.
Tuesday & Wednesday 02/03 December 2014
Ossett’s Hottest Year Ever?
Tuesday and Wednesday were cold and sunny much better than the dull drab weather we’ve become accustomed to. It was just bad planning on my part that Tuesday was spent decorating and Wednesday involved waiting in for the boiler repair man.
It was hard to avoid all the news items proclaiming 2014 as the hottest year ever in the UK with accompanying pictures of sandy beaches shimmering in the heat haze. As it’s December I’ve just added the average temperature for December up to the third of the month into my annual average temperature chart.
At the moment with a December average of 5.6°C 2014 would equal 2011 with an annual average temperature of 11.0°C. I must be honest when I’m talking about a temperature of 11.0°C hot isn’t the first description that comes to mind. So if it’s going to be the mildest year I’ve recorded it’s all down to whether or not December turns out to be another month with above average temperatures. It’s not unusual to have above average as by it’s very meaning some months will be above and some below the average monthly value.
Whatever the final yearly average temperature turns out to be the gardening year has been good. I can’t remember any prolonged dry spells where it was necessary to water the plot on a regular basis. Spring got us off to a good mild start following on from a winter period of almost no frosts. Both fruit and vegetables produced good crops with the odd failure being made up for with a bumper crop elsewhere. The only disappointing spell was a very poor August when some crops seemed to come to a bit of a standstill.
Of course these are my recording taken from my own weather station and represent the conditions in my garden and cannot be taken as a representative example of the UK as an whole. I do wonder though when that average UK temperature is announced exactly where in the UK this does represent.
Thursday 04 December 2014
Just Typical
After a couple of lovely sunny days Thursday turned back into dull and gloomy. The cooler temperatures remained and typically this was the day I'd planned a little bit of steam train photography followed by a visit to a nature reserve either Potteric Carr or RSPB Fairburn Ings.
Our steam train was due to arrive in York around lunchtime. Fortunately it was on time but it still felt pretty cold even though we were only waiting a short time for The Cathedrals Express to pass by. We decided against a visit to either nature reserve after the train had passed and disappeared off into the murk towards York. As it was cold and a bit misty we didn’t think the weather was very conducive to any good bird photography.
4464 Bittern only has one more charter train to haul before it’s withdrawn for the steam train equivalent of an MOT at the end of the year. The main difference is that this MOT will probably come with a bill in excess of £500,000.
Friday & Saturday 05/06 December 2014
Steam to Lindum Fayre and an Afternoon Walk
Friday and Saturday were both sunny and cold December days but thankfully Thursday’s gloomy weather had disappeared.
I’d planned another steam train photography session combined with a visit to a nature reserve for Saturday providing the weather was anything like decent. So on a beautiful clear and frosty Saturday morning we set out for Lincolnshire. The plan was to capture two steam locomotives hauling charter trains to Lindum Fayre a traditional Christmas Market held in the City of Lincoln every year. In the afternoon the plan was to visit Whisby Nature Reserve run by the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.
4965 Rood Ashton Hall with The Lyndon Christmas Fayre from Birmingham
60009 Union of South Africa with The Lyndon Fayre from London Kings Cross
Even at lunchtime the ground was still white over with frost around Lincoln as the temperature refused to rise much above freezing point. Once the trains had made they way to Lincoln and the Christmas market we headed for the nature reserve for lunch and an afternoon walk around the reserve. It was our first visit to the reserve so we didn’t know what to expect but we’d certainly picked an excellent day weatherwise to visit.
There were some lovely views around the reserve in the afternoon sun making up for the fact that some of the birds were a little too far off for any really good photos.
This robin posed nicely by the side of the path giving me just enough time to get a couple of shots before it disappeared off into the bushes.
By the time we headed back to the cafe for a cup of coffee, before journeying back up the A1 and home, the sun was setting on what had been a beautiful December day.
Sunday 07 December 2014
A Topsy Turvy Day
After the super weather on Saturday, Sunday didn’t turn out anything like as good. Strangely the temperature peaked at 10.3°C at 05:40 in the early hours of the morning and then fell steadily throughout the rest of the day.
The day itself was a mixture of sunshine and showers with a strong gusty wind making it feel even colder. The week ahead is forecast to be a mixture of everything apart from some decent winter weather.