December 2016 weather and nature
Log of more significant weather days:
Snow patches late November: During the final week of November snow patches visible on distant hills inc Plynlimon
Tue 13th very mild mostly cloudy(Pershore College 14.7c, Trawsgoed 13.0c)
Wed 14th very mild and bright (Gogerddan 14.2c, Nottingham 13.3c, Pershore College 13.2c)
Thurs 23rd frost widespread but not severe however Shobdon -3.4c coldest in UK
Fri 24th Storm Barbara brought wind and rain although nothing of note for most of England and Wales, gusts to 75mph at Capel Curig and Anglesey though, a few trees and power lines down over Wales
Sat 25th very mild Christmas Day (Coleshill 14.9c, Trawsgoed 13.5c)
Tue 27th notably high pressure above 1040mbar all England and Wales and 1045mbar reached over the Midlands. At Coventry the barometer reached its highest level since January 1982!
Wed 28th frost locally rather severe (Pershore -7.0c), unbroken sunshine many areas (Llanwnnen 7 hours) however some places remained foggy. Variable maxima from very mild 12.1c Trawsgoed to very cold 1.0c Hereford where fog must have lingered
Thu 29th freezing fog persisted all day along some valleys, such as the Trent and Wye (Hereford max -0.6c, Winterbourne 7.6c)
Nature notes:
2nd in spite of recent severe frosts (-11.0c 30/11) a few Red Campion continue in bloom along the lanes
Early Dec Primroses in flower Coventry and Llanwnnen.
9th Muntjac Deer in woodland, Fillongley, Warks
10th female Blackcap feeding on Apples remaining on tree Aldermans Green, Coventry, this is a Summer migrant although they increasingly over-Winter due to milder Winters and as people feed garden birds more and more. Blackbird and Magpie also benefiting from this remaining fruit.
11th Llanwnnen and surrounds: Mistle Thrush heard in weak song, first Snowdrop spikes emerged Fish & Anchor bank, a few Red Campion continue to bloom, grass and other vegetation appears to be in slow growth phase
14th Gorse in flower up to 350m Mynydd Pencarreg, snatch of Song Thrush song along lane back down to Llanybydder also heard Carmarthen 15th
A few Primrose in bloom from mid month
Hazel catkins mid month
20th first Snowdrop spikes near Fish & Anchor, Llanwnnen, they are usually early to flower on this road bank
Further Song and Mistle Thrush song bursts at various locations to Christmas
December 2016 summary: dry and mild
For the second year running this was an unusual instance of December being milder than November.
A dry month for all and for parts of the Midlands very dry with barely a quarter of the average
Llanwnnen driest Dec since 2010 (52.1mm) and driest since 2010 (17.2mm) Coventry
December rainfall totals:
Valley 75.6mm
Llanwnnen 75.1mm (52%)
Aberporth 52.6mm
Milford Haven 75.4mm
Pembrey Sands 68.6mm
Nottingham 20.4mm
Shawbury 30.0mm
Coventry 23.0mm
Long Lawford 19.6mm (35%)
Church Lawford 23.8mm
2016 summary
Rather mild, most places rather dry, parts of WW decidedly dry
Llanwnnen driest year since 2010 (1116.9mm), Coventry driest since 2011 (460.2mm)
Rainfall totals for 2016
Llanwnnen 1144.7mm (87%)
Long Lawford 613.5mm (96%)
Church Lawford 635.6mm
Coventry, Bablake School 671.2mm (97%)
Sunshine totals 2016
Coventry, Bablake School 1508.2 hrs (98%)
Llanwnnen (estimated) 1269 hours (94%)
