Weather log January 2021
Key:
WW = West Wales
Lwn = Llanwnnen
AG = Aldermans Green, Coventry
CL = Church LawfordROW = Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire
CC = Capel Curig, Snowdonia
MH = Milford HavenMids = Midlands
CITE = Coton-in-the-Elms, Derbyshire
COL = Climatological Observers Link
PWS = Personal weather station
Weather log:
A cold start to 2021 with maxima for most inland remaining below 5c for the first week or so of the month, nights saw generally only slight to moderate frosts, some wintry outbreaks but most significant snow accumulations restricted to higher ground:
Thu 7th widespread sharp frost, minima Shobdon -6.8c, Hereford -6.6c, CC & Tirabad -6.4c, Lwn -5.7c, Trawsgoed -5.1c, Coventry -4.7c, Coleshill -3.8c, Mumbles +0.5c. Freezing fog persistent much of Midlands with an ice day quite widely, maxima to 2100 Astwood Bank & Pershore -2.0c, CL -1.7c, Llysdinam, Powys -0.4c, Market Bosworth -1.2c, Lwn 2.8c, Shobdon 3.6c, Mumbles 5.8c
Sun 10th min Lwn -6.9c, Shobdon -5.3c, Pembrey -5.1c, this cold spell has been prolonged since Boxing Day and had a notable run of sub 4c days here at Llanwnnen, 12 days being the longest such run since the very cold spell of November/ December 2010 in fact! Nights were not so notable however with few really low temperatures and no lengthy periods where minima fell below 0c (we have had periods of a fortnight or more of successive air frosts).
Mon 11th much milder all remaining snow patches disappeared from the lawns here.
Wed 13th warm front stuck across the Midlands with large temperature contrasts, max Shobdon 12.4c, Watnall 2.8c; other max Lwn 9.3c, Coventry 4.6c, Market Bosworth 4.4c.
Thu 14th again contrasts with sleet and snow falling over N Midlands, elsewhere rather mild; max ROW 10.6c, Hereford 10.5c, Mumbles 9.9c, Lwn 7.6c, CL 4.7c, Watnall 2.5c.
Very wet spell just after mid month, Mon 18th to Wed 20th most of Wales having over 2 inches with over 6 inches for some hilly areas:
Tue 19th CC wettest in UK with 76.6mm then again Wed 20th again with 87.8mm. Here at Lwn 3 inches fell over the 3 days, flooding of the Teifi got within 10m of the Co-op in Lampeter (several times before it has infiltrated the building situated at the confluence of the Dulas and Teifi, notably in Oct 2018 when the store was subsequently closed for many weeks due to water damage. Aberllefenni near Machynlleth, a reliable PWS, had 6 inches of rain and is not even high up! This wet spell was also mild to very mild on 20th minima above 10c in places, Aberporth, MH, Shawbury & Trawsgoed all 10.1c, Lwn 9.7c, CL & Hereford 9.2c, CC 8.5c. Maxima by day 12c in places, more generally 9-11c.
Sat 23rd walked in the forestry, there was a sprinkling at home from yesterday evening with a nice fresh 3- 4cm covering in the forest above 300masl.
Sun 24th 7cm snow depth on the lawns this morning, it fell from a band that moved east 03- 0600. Many parts of Wales and Midlands had snowfalls today, greatest depths seem to be 20cm Salop & Staffs as reported on Radio 4 weather, and the Leicester area apparently had around 15cm with Coventry and Rugby nearer 5-8cm; very cold day Midlands, maxima Watnall -0.2, CL +0.3c, CC 0.5c, Pershore College 1.8c; less so WW, Lwn 4.3c, Mumbles 4.7c.
Mon 25th severe frost in places, minima St Harmon, Powys -10.5c, Tirabad, Powys -9.7c, Lwn -8.8c (coldest since -8.9c Dec 2017); other min Pershore -7.1c, Bablake -4.0c, Hereford -2.9c, Aberporth +1.2c.
Tue 26th most areas saw near complete thaw of lying snow inc Lwn & Coventry.
Brief mild snap before cold end to January with a little more snow:
Thu 28th mild/ very mild up to 14c in places, maxima Pershore College 14.2c (highest in UK), Hereford 13.8c, Coventry & Trawsgoed 12.4c, Sutton Bonington 12.2c, Lwn 11.4c, Mumbles 9.4c.
Sat 30th some sleet or snow for parts of mid & N Wales and Midlands, little accumulation away from hills of Wales but with drifting reported and photographed in Powys.
Sun 31st sleet and snow for WW and parts of SW Midlands with slight accumulations in places inc Swansea area; max barely above freezing in places, max Lwn 1.4c by day but 1.6c in the night, CC 2.0c, Coventry 2.1c, Shawbury 2.9c, Mumbles 5.1c.
Nature notes
Mon 11th GSW drumming on this the first milder day of 2020! Also Mistle Thrush singing weakly and Collared Dove singing Allt-y-Blaca this morning.
Fri 15th Snowdrops along Drefach lane in village, earlier than normal most likely as the hedgerow along the stream severely cut back Sept 2019.
Mid month or just after Daff spikes well up opposite the house hedgebank (pretty early).
Mon 18th several Song Thrush singing well Allt-y-Blaca.
Thu 21st Blackbird singing rather weakly adjacent Uni Lampeter; Crocuses out at Uni.
Mon 25th first Daffodils seen in flower 2021 at St David's church in Carmarthen (only a smattering of snow here).
Summary Jan 2021
Generally a rather cold wet month; rather dull to average sunshine
Here at Lwn it was the coldest January since 2011 although temperatures were only a degree or so below average; a very wet month widely, locally twice the average with all areas above average for January; most areas rather dull, average at best for a few spots.
Rainfall total Jan 2021:
Valley 101.2mm (134%)
CC 345.0mm (119%)
Aberdaron 156.8mm (191%)
Trawsgoed 206.6mm (170%)
Aberporth 138.0mm (165%)
Llanwnnen 191.1mm (132%)
Mumbles 161.6mm (169%)
Watnall, Notts 131.8mm
Shawbury, Salop 93.8mm (167%)
Coleshill 94.0mm (177%)
Coventry, Bablake School 90.8mm (151%)
CL, Warks 81.6mm (145%)
Pershore 94.0mm (177%)
Hereford 88.8mm (134%)
COL/ PWS stations
Cosby, Leic 93.3mm (152%)
Warstock, Bham 106.4mm (150%)
Daventry, Northants 89.9mm
Towcester, Northants 100.8mm (157%)
Alvechurch, Worc 117.8mm (173%)
Ludlow, Salop 108.1mm
Sunshine
Aberdaron 41.1 hrs
Aberporth 38.0 hrs (62%)
Llanwnnen estimated 40 hours (95%)
Watnall 45.1 hrs
Shawbury 40.0 hrs (79%)
Coventry 47.7 hrs (75%)
Shobdon, Herefordshire 33.8 hrs
ROW 33.3 hrs
