Friday, 04 October 2019
After A Wet September, October Begins With A Cold Spell
September seemed like an odd month to me. It certainly didn't seem like an extension of summer more like the immediate arrival of autumn. Early in the month we had a few cold nights which came as a real shock after a hot spell towards the end of August.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 04 August to 02 September 2019
After August's hot spell we had a dry spell of weather and although we had some rainfall it was no more than enough to keep the top of the soil moist. Such was the spell of dry weather that by the middle of September we decided some parts of the allotment needed some water.
When our mid month birds' eye video was made, our hosepipe was set up to water our brassicas. Of course doing this could only result in one outcome, a spell of wet weather. September went from being one of the driest over the last 10 years to the wettest in a matter of days. Firstly, 24th September became the wettest day of the year only for the 29th to take over the record. By the end of the month September had become the wettest month of the year and the wettest September of the last 10 years.
Average Temperatures & Rainfall Records for September 2010-2019
Temperature wise, September 2019 was around average for the last 10 years producing no high or low temperatures worthy of note.
Initially we didn't think we'd be able to start digging over beds at the allotment because it was too dry. Now it might be too wet but we'll have to pay a visit to see just what condition the ground is in. Even if we can't start our autumn digging we've got plenty of clearing up to do with lots of spent crops to be cleared away to the compost heap.
If you would like to have a look around our plot at the end of September I've added a video tour below.
October has started wet and cold with an early morning low of 1.6°C (34.9°F) on Thursday and more than likely a touch of frost. It will be interesting to see if our dahlias survived at the allotment. It's the coldest start to October in the last 10 years.
The above chart showing October's average temperatures is a little bit messy but the purple line showing the average temperature for the first few days of the month indicates clearly how cold a start to the month we've had.