Weather log December 2021
An unsettled start to the month with variable temperatures though never especially cold or mild; quite an unsettled start to the month too:
Tue 7th/ Wed 8th Storm Barra gave damaging winds in places, max gust over 80mph Aberdaron (Llanwnnen only 45mph and Coventry 44mph though). Over an inch of rain widely Wales (Lwn 26.2mm 7th).
Mild/ very mild towards mid month:
Sun 12th minima above 10c across WW; Trawsgoed 11.5c, Lwn 10.9c, Coventry 9.8c, Shawbury 8.9c, Mumbles 8.6c, Nottingham 6.8c. Very mild for the Midlands in particular by day, maxima Newport, Salop 14.4c, Coventry 14.2c, Shobdon 13.2c, Trawsgoed 12.6c, Lwn 11.7c, CC 11.3c. Dull with some rain and drizzle for WW, dry with sunny intervals Midlands.
Mon 13th Whitechurch, Pembs 21.6mm wettest spot in the UK.
Mostly dry spell after mid month with varying tempeature and sunshine fortunes:
Sat 18th/ 19th high over the UK with a light east flow so it was cloudy or misty Midlands but sunny WW with a frosty night; Gogerddan, near Aberystwyth max 12.8c 18th was the mildest in the UK, other max Aberporth 11.1c, Lwn 9.7c, MH & Mumbles 8.9c, ROW 8.5c, Pershore 8.1c, CL 6.8c, Nottingham 5.5c; sunshine Aberdaron 7.1 hours sunniest in the UK, Lwn 7 hours unbroken sunshine, all of the Midlands nil sun.
Sun 19th widespread frost Wales, minima Lwn -3.3c, Mona, Anglesey -3.0c, Pembrey Sands -2.2c, Nottingham & Trawsgoed -0.8c, Coventry +0.6c, Hereford 2.8c, Aberdaron 5.7c; cold and cloudy, misty weather for the Midlands and parts Wales, lovely and sunny again most of WW and very mild indeed around Cardigan Bay, maxima Whitechurch, Pembs 15.1c, Trawsgoed 13.8c, Aberporth 13.2c, Lwn 8.7c (only 20 miles inland from Aberporth); Valley 5.6c, Pershore 4.3c, CITE 3.9c, Tirabad 3.4c (foggy), Coleshill 3.0c; sunshine Aberporth & Llanwnnen 7 hours, Midlands all places nil sun again.
Tue 21st coldest day of the month to date here at Llanwnnen, max 4.7c although with plentiful hazy sunshine (sunniest place in Wales Aberporth had just 1 hour however); most places cloudy and rather cold; maxima CC 2.8c, Nottingham 3.6c, CL & Coventry 5.1c, Pershore 5.5c, MH 7.4c.
Turned more unsettled with varying temperatures in the lead up to Christmas:
Christmas Day (Sat 25th) cloudy with rain at times, an inch in places; WW and the south Midlands average to mild, the central Midlands started off quite mild but turned colder (from 6c or 7c first thing to 3 to 5c afternoon, with the north of the Midlands and NE Wales cold all day. Milford Haven was up above 10c by evening while the maximum at Nottingham in the 24 hours to 9pm was just 3.5c (other day-time max Trawsgoed 8.7c, Llanwnnen 8.0c, Hereford & Pershore c 7c, CC c 5c, Coventry 4.7c.
A prolonged cloudy spell for much of the Midlands, Coventry seeing just half an hours worth in the past fortnight and nil sun the past 10 days...
A very mild finale to 2022:
Wed 29th rather cloudy, some sun in places though, a very mild day for the end of December, maxima Pershore 15.5c, Hereford 15.0c, CL & Coleshill 14.5c, Trawsgoed 14.2c, Lwn & Nottingham 12.9c, CC 12.1c.
Thu 30th a very mild Winters night, some parts of southern England stayed above 13c; minima MH 11.9c, Lwn 11.6c, Hereford 11.4c, CC 9.5c, Nottingham 8.8c; very mild by day too although most places overcast with rain particularly for WW; maxima Sutton Bonington 15.3c, Wellesbourne 15.2c, Hereford 15.0c, CL 14.7c, Shobdon 14.0c; Trawsgoed 13.9c, Lwn 12.7c (in the early hours), CC 11.5c, Porthmadog 11.0c; over 6 inches rain in 2 days for Snowdonia (Capel Curig wettest in the UK today with 90.2mm to 2100).
Fri 31st very/ even exceptionally mild once more, Coventry (low of 12.7c) having its mildest December night since 1892; minima exclusively in double figures, Shawbury 13.3c, CL, Coventry, Pershore & Trawsgoed 12.7c, Nottingham 12.2c, Lwn 11.7c, CC 10.7c; maxima up to 15c in places again...it brightened to sunny intervals Midlands afternoon...maxima Pershore 15.2c, CL & Trawsgoed 14.7c, Shobdon 14.0c, CC 11.7c..many places had the mildest New Year's Eve on record.
Nature notes
Early Dec: Long Lawford various flower and rose blooms adorning some of the gardens of The Spinney.
Tue 14th Song Thrush singing beautifully University.
Wed 15th flock of Redwing in the trees bottom of the garden; Llanwnnen, Neuadd Lane, Mistle Thrushes singing and heard a Great Tit calling 'teacher'; good coverage of Celandine leafs on the south facing lane bank.
Some Gorse has been in flower since November; still the odd Rose in bloom/ trying to bloom even late month.
31st first Bluebell spikes emerging under the Apple tree.
Plenty of moths in the headlights last wek of the year.
December 2021 summary
Very mild, rather dry parts of the Midlands, generally though average to rather wet; very dull/dull Midlands, WW dull to average
Rainfall totals Dec 2021:
Llanwnnen 172.9mm = fifth consecutive wetter than average December going by the historical Lampeter average (144mm) with Dec 2021 being 120% of this, however it is notable that only one of these months (283.7mm in December 2020) has exceeded the 2006- 21 mean here (187.3mm) with Dec 2021 being 92% of this. December therefore has become appreciably wetter locally over the past 16 years compared to the 1916-50 period.
Mona 101.6mm
Capel Curig, Snowdonia 305.6mm (99%)
Aberdaron 123.0mm (150%)
Trawsgoed 165.2mm (122%)
Aberporth 100.8mm (106%)
Pembrey Sands 129.6mm (112%)
Nottingham 87.0mm
Shawbury 67.2mm (108%)
Coleshill 67.2mm (105%)
Coventry 82.6mm (133%)
Church lawford 66.6mm (117%)
Pershore, Worc 64.6mm (121%)
Shobdon, Herefordshire 58.6mm (70%)
COL/PWS rainfall:
Llansadwrn, Anglesey 163.2mm (120%)
Ludlow, Salop 91.6mm (110%)
Warstock, Brum 85.5mm (111%)
Alvechurch, Worc 93.6mm (113%)
Cosby, Leic 45.9mm (73%)
Hinckley 67.8mm
Towcester, Northants 75.0mm (109%)
Daventry 47mm
Sunshine Dec 2021
Aberdaron 40.9 hours
Aberporth 33.1 hrs (64%)
Llanwnnen est 41 hours (111%)
Nottingham 27.0 hrs
Shawbury, Salop 21.5 hrs
Coventry 26.2 hrs (43%) = note dullest Dec here since 1989 (20 hrs) with just 4 hours 13th - 31st
Shobdon 27.3 hrs
COL stations Dec 2021 sunshine:
Ludlow 18.1 hrs
Alvechurch 22.8 hrs
Cosby, Leic 32.3 hrs
Towcester 29.8 hrs
2021 annual summary
Generally a fairly mild, rather dull and rather wet year (locally average)
Rainfall annual totals for 2021
Llanwnnen : 1432.2mm (109%)
Coventry: 773.0mm (112%)
CL: 670.6mm (99%)
PWS/ COL station annual rainfall 2021:
Llansadwrn, Anglesey 1415.2mm (123%)
Alvechurch 828.5mm
Sunshine annual totals 2021
Llanwnnen 1234 hrs (91%)
Coventry 1451.7 hrs (93%)
