Disclaimer
This weather site is operated as an amateur weather station site and should not be used as official data. I make every effort to ensure my data is as accurate as possible but I cannot guarantee that the data meets the requirements of the Meteorological Office or other professional weather monitoring organisations.
Tuesday 01 September 2015
Autumn Already
Autumn has arrived and summer doesn’t really seem to have ever started. It was a coolish start to September with some heavy showers, with some hail mixed in, in the afternoon following on from some over night rain.
I’ve noticed comments in newspapers and on the Internet that this summer as been one of the wettest on record in certain parts of the country. That hasn’t been the case in Ossett as this summer’s rainfall has finished a little below average. (Click on the chart to see the full size version)
I must admit it didn’t particularly feel like a dryish summer as we’ve had plenty of dull and drizzly weather without necessarily having a great deal of rain. Our annual summer rainfall figures are in the table below.
Wednesday & Thursday 02/03 September 2015
Covers Are Out
Wednesday and Thursday were pretty substandard for the beginning of September, much more akin to October, especially Thursday with a high temperature of only 14.7°C or 58.5°F and a cool breeze.
On Wednesday I decided to tackle the bed that a few weeks ago had large cracks in the soil as a result of a dry spell of weather. The recent rains had certainly got the weeds growing and it’s a reminder of what a good job weed control fabric does.
This is how it looked before I began. The weeds and flower remains were dug out and the cultivator was put to work. The soil was in a much better state for digging and the cultivator did a good job. If anything the ground was a little bit on the wet side but it dug okay.
It’s now ready to be covered with weed control fabric and planting up with wallflowers and sweet Williams for next spring’s cut flowers. I did intend to get a little bit more cultivating done but a heavy shower brought the covers out to protect the cultivator from the rain.
We didn’t get too much rain but it was enough to make the top of the soil a bit claggy and sticky so I decided it would be best left for another day.
Friday 04 September 2015
A Potential Record Breaker?
Friday continued the cold start to September with another dull day.
It’s very early in the month to consider it turning out to be a record cold September but the first few days have been much colder than we’ve experienced over the last few years.
I’m hoping it gets a little bit warmer over the next few days.
Saturday & Sunday 05/06 September 2015
A Weekend Harvesting and Clearing
The cold start to September continued over the weekend. Sunday was far the better of the two days with almost unbroken sunshine after a very chilly start. In the afternoon sunshine the temperature just about reached the average for early September.
The plot is certainly taking on an autumnal look now as beds are cleared of their summer crops and dug over ready for winter. I lifted our maincrop potatoes over the weekend. They’d all produced a crop of smallish potatoes which I’m putting down to a dry summer spell when they should have been growing well. They didn’t get watered and the result is small potatoes. They’re all usable though with very little damage from pests.
The bed where the potatoes were is now dug over and ready for covering with weed control fabric.
We still managed to do some harvesting though. Our runner beans and climbing French beans eventually recovered from their slug attack and the cold weather and are now producing beans at an amazing rate. Our Victoria plum tree has produced an excellent crop this year and so far the wasps don’t seem to have found them. I think they’re still busy finishing off what’s left of the greengages.
I don’t know if it’s just me but we seem to be well into autumn not just at the start.
Monday 07 September 2015
Iffy Forecast
Monday’s forecast was a little bit iffy. It was supposed to remain cloudy and cool all day but that wasn’t exactly right. The morning was pretty dull as forecast but the afternoon brightened up and the temperature lifted to a respectable 20.2°C (68.4°F) giving us our warmest September day this year. It was like a little bit of summer returning.
However despite the return of summer for a few hours it hasn’t done much to improve the cold start to September.
It does look like it might be a bit warmer later in the week.
