December 2017 weather log

Weather log December 2017

Sat Dec 1st sunny periods, rather cold after frost (Trawsgoed -4.9c). LLanwnnen equal sunniest day since August 31st (9.5 hrs) with October 30th (7 hrs) also Nottingham 6.1 hrs, Valley 5.8 hrs but Aberporth 2.3 hrs

Thu 7th very mild  windy night, wet WW, temps widely above 10c but fell by dawn WW heralding start of a colder potentially wintry spell..?  Capel Curig 54mm overnight.

Fri 8th wintry showers, streamers gace accumulations in places such as higher ground of Wales and parts of West Midlands..reported 20cm in Powys and  Shropshire, a cold windy day (Shawbury max 1.0c, Capel Curig 2.6c, Shobdon 3.5c, Mumbles 5.9c)

Sat 9th very cold wintry showers in places, 20cm lay in Brecon Beacons this morning after overnight snow showers. Max Tirabad +0.2c, Llanwnnen 3.0c, MH 6.1c, Shawbury 1.4c, Coleshill 3.1c)..

Sun 10th widespread persistent snowfalls as 'slider low crosses south Wales (crossed Ceredigion early morning min pressure 974mbar). Much of Midlands over 10cm, locally 20cm little lying snow for coastal areas of Wales, but inland widely over 5cm with over 30cm for some hilly areas such as Brecon Beacons.

Snow depth reports:

Coventry, Bablake 0900 10cm

Coventry FB reports AM 7 -13cm

Leamington 11cm

Long Lawford 7cm 0900

Evesham 5cm 0900

Alvechurch 11cm 0900

Llanwnnen 4cm slushy 0900

Over 30cm Brecon Beacons

25cm Herefordshire

Widely 15-20cm West Midlands

PM: Coventry 12cm, FB Cov 12-15cm

Merthyr Tydfyl John Mason UKWW had reliable report of 35-40cm

Sennybridge (Tirabad) most snow in UK officially 33cm

Very cold away from south coast of Wales where it was mild first thing (Tirabad max -0.8c, Aberdaron +0.8c, Llanwnnen 1.1c, MH 8.9c; Shawbury 0.0c, Pershore 0.9c). Aberporth 32mm, Llanwnnen c. 30mm (24 hours to 1800)

Mon 11th cold to very cold day away from Pembrokeshire, an ice day locally (Shawbury max 0.0c, CL +0.2c, Shobdon 2.0c; Tirabad 0.9c, Llanwnnen 1.8c, MH 6.5c

Tue 12th severe frost (Shawbury & Shobdon -13c, Pershore -11.2c, Llanwnnen -8.9c, CL -9.1c, Bablake -6.7c,

Mon 18th slight frost and thick fog in places; inversion locally cold by day, generally sunny and rather mild though (CL max 3.7c, Llanwnnen 4.9c, Trawsgoed 9.7c, Whitechurch 11.3c, Shobdon 9.7c)

Very mild run up to Christmas, fairly dry..

Thu 21st very mild (minima MH 10.5c, Llanwnnen 9.7c, Coventry 9.1c, Hereford & Shobdon 7.4c). Hereford max 12.1c

Christmas Day (Mon) mild/ very mild, windy with rain at times WW spreading to Midlands evening

(Shobdon 12.2c, Valley 11.8c, Pembrey Sands 11.6c, Aberdaron & Llanwnnen 10.2c

Boxing Day/ Wed 27th frontal system advected rather cold air on northern flank there was sleet and snow in many places, this was a very marginal wet snow event but in areas where precipitatuion was heavy and the snow settled. Parts of the East Midlands were worst hit, up to 6 inches in Northamptonshire, Long Lawford had about 2 inches while there was only a thin tempoorary covering at Coventry. 40.3mm? in the gauge measured at Long Lawford so this would have been an extreme snow event had it been just a degree or two colder!

Very mild end to the year though:

Sat 30th from sleet in the evening, 4c at midnight a sharp warm frontal rise ensued uo to max 11.5c 0300 here at Llanwnnen. Temperatures peaked afternoon for the Midlands highest Pershore 13.7c.

Sun 31st again an overnight peak in temperatures (e.g. 13.1c 0300 CL,11.8c 0130 Llanwnnen)

Nature notes

Gorse seen in flower early month

Sat 9th in spite of cold (though no hard frosts yet) still a few slugs about and Spiders in the house still.

Mon 18th Snowdrops spikes emerged Fish & Anchor

Fri 22nd dusk Blackbird cacophany inc pleasant subsong

Christmas Eve Mistle thrushes singing after dawn

Some Gorse in flower throughout the month

Hint of Great Tit "teacher" around Christmas




December 2017 summary

Generally rather wet, locally wet; average temperatures; sunshine dull to average WW; generally quite a sunny month Midlands


Rainfall totals

Llanwnnen 164.8mm (114%)

Bablake 97.6mm (158%)
Daventry PWS c. 77mm

Dec sunshine:

Valley 34.5 hrs (67%)
Aberdaron 33.1 hrs
Llanwnnen 41 hrs (111%)
Aberporth 32.4 hrs (61%)

Shawbury 55.2 hrs (122%)
Shobdon 63.8 hrs
Nottingham 59.2 hrs (120%)
Bablake, Coventry 59.2 hrs (106%)


2017 Summary


Mild with around average rainfall; dull WW, rather dull to average Midlands


Rainfall totals

Llanwnnen 1343.0mm (102%)

Bablake 702.6mm (102%)
Long Lawford 650.9mm (102%)
Church Lawford 642.6mm (95%)