ossettweather.com
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Afternoon sunshine
It was another gloomy morning but to give us a pleasant surprise the sun made a most welcome appearance in the afternoon. Temperatures were about average for mid November at 10.5°C. When it chooses to make an appearance, the sun is now low in the sky throughout the day leaving much of the garden in shade for the whole day.
The weather was good enough for me to make a little more progress on refurbishing the area around our pond filter. This is an area that had been neglected for a number of years. It’s a pretty large job so it’s being given a few web pages all to itself so click here to read more
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Cold and dull
Wednesday was cool and cloudy all day. With the temperature not even making double figures, 8.3°C was our maximum it certainly had a November feel to the day.
We harvested our medlars this week, much later in this autumn than over the last few previous years. The tree had just about lost all its leaves but all the medlars were still hanging on.
I’m still looking for a good way to use medlars. I’ve not come to terms with this idea of bletting or almost allowing the fruit to start rotting before its ready to eat. It looks like some of our fruits have bletted on the tree. It’s a bit like trying to decide whether or not to eat “shaggy parasols” - well maybe not at least we may decide to eat the medlars!
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Glorious
Thursday was glorious, sunny and mild and hard to believe it was the middle of November. There was just a gentle breeze and it was still possible to feel a little warmth in the afternoon sunshine. A real bonus day for the time of year.
So far this month we’ve had just 16.2mm of rain and with a long term average of 64 mm we could be in for yet another dry month. At this time of year the rainfall we are having seems enough to keep the soil in our garden and on the plot on the wet side even though the amount of rain we’ve had is relatively small.
Friday, 18 November 2011
Mostly cloudy but mild
Friday started off with a little sunshine which soon gave way to clouds for the rest of the day. It was another very mild day for November with a high of 13.9°C.
The newspapers are already discussing the possibility of November being the warmest ever recorded in the Central England Temperature Record which dates back 350 years. We’re located just outside this area, but not many miles north of it. Today our average temperature for the month is 9.6°C lower than the figure needed for us to break this record.
So whilst we wouldn’t break the record we’re still in with a chance of it being the second warmest November based on this old record.
Surprisingly the the records from 3rd to 7th warmest have all been in place for many years with 3rd place dating back to 1818 over 190 years ago. So mild Novembers aren’t really a recent phenomenon.
Ranking
Year
Nov
1
1994
10.08
2
2011
9.60
3
1818
9.50
4
1938
9.39
5
1817
9.11
6
1881
8.89
7
1939
8.68
8
2009
8.64
9
1821
8.61
10
2002
8.51
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Plum tree sorted
Saturday started off misty and murky but by late morning the mist disappeared and the sun came out leaving us with a lovely afternoon.
This was our tree in the height of summer laden with plums. It looked a little different yesterday before I set to with my saw.
This is how it looked with our old steps still in place trying to support the broken bough
It looked much better once all the broken branches and twigs had been removed. I’m a little bit concerned about the actual point where the branch broke. I can’t really see how it can be cut back to give a smooth cut without destroying the whole tree. I might try gunging up the whole area with one of those compounds for protecting cut surfaces of trees. As you can see the actual break point still looks very messy.
As for the cut back branches they’re just a small pile of twigs and branches ready to be burnt to produce some potash which is good to spread back on the plot. Not that these few twigs will produce very much.
On the plot I decided it was about time I got round to sorting out our Marjorie’s Seedling plum tree. Back in the summer under the sheer weight of plums one of its branches broke. The break wasn’t all the way through and the plums on the broken branch did go on to ripen. Although its not the right time to be cutting back a plum tree I decided I wanted to tidy the tree up for winter.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Misty day
The mist never cleared all day so it was a miserable cold day.
Ranking
Year
Nov
1
1994
10.08
2
1818
9.50
3
1938
9.39
4
2011
9.38
5
1817
9.11
6
1881
8.89
7
1939
8.68
8
2009
8.64
9
1821
8.61
10
2002
8.51
The temperature only managed a maximum of 7.7°C so in the Central England Temperature Record it means 2011 moves down into 4th place. Some milder days are forecast later on in the week so it is still possible that the average temperature for the month might improve. It’s probably going to be dependant on over night temperatures remaining mild and frost free.