A review of the weather from September 2001

by Andrew Robinson of Lumby:

September 2001 was cooler than usual and short of sun (we in Lumby had only 55% of normal - so it felt the Autumn was with us very early. The month was dryer than normal and generally the weather was a little boring-with the exception of 1 good night time storm.
October 2001 was wet and warm it was 2.5C warmer than September which is the first time I can find this happening. It was the warm sultry nights some as high as 18C that helped the average stay up. We also had no frost (again I cannot find an October were this has happened before), however the local farmers were becoming nervous after twice the average rainfall fell in the first 12 days, and the fields were full of water again. It looked at this stage as if the potatoes were staying put again, and it was only the warm dry end to the month that saved the day.
November 2001 started very mild and with the trees still in leaf it looked like September. It continued mild with the coldest night being 0.01C above freezing - so again no frost. More talk of global warming and the fact that winter would never arrive.
December 2001 started in the same way the weather was quiet and in fact all month we only had 3 storms cross from the west. Hover we did get very windy weather at the end of the month as we pulled strong northerly winds in a couple of times. We had a first frost, but not enough to stop geraniums still flowering on Christmas day- when was the last time this happened. The last few leaves came off mid month, but due to a blocking high pressure system over Europe we stayed very dry. The end of the month from a few days before Christmas it became cold and the snow came, but only a couple of centimetres. However as we neared New year the high started to feed cold air over the UK and as I write we are in the middle of  a very cold spell. The temperature fell to a 10 year low in South Milford at -10.6C on Tuesday night (1st of January) and the next day stayed at -5C all day, in fact we had a 90 hour period with the temp below freezing, it is a while since this has happened. However I think this is a start to a very cold spell and with the high pressure systems jammed over Europe, I think we shall soon return to severe cold and snowy conditions. I think this month (January 2002) could turn out to be the coldest for a long time, with some heavy snowfalls - so get the sledges ready.
January 2002 The month started very, very cold with a period of some 80 hours with the temperature below freezing. We never got the snow that was forecast and a mere dusting was all that our village got. When the high pressure gave way and allowed warmer west winds to sweep over we finally got some rainfall but the total at 32mm was down on normal, and most of this came at the end of the month. The main feature was a severe storm that swept our area on Monday 28th with winds of around 68 mph (Church Fenton station) and a second less severe storm on the 31st. The month was duller than normal with Lumby recording only 49 hrs of sun (normal figure is about 55hrs) but was  much warmer than normal in fact during the month I recorded a 16 o C 61 F and it was said that parts of the UK had the warmest January day on record. A total of 14 days with the temperature in the 50's is not normal, and the fact that after the 7th we had no frost. All Europe has had some strange weather this
winter with the Alps suffering a severe shortage of snow, parts of Italy having no snow this winter at all, and France and Switzerland having only 5cm since late December. My prediction for February is that we must get some frost and snow (but then my prediction for January was so WRONG), and some cold weather soon.
February 2002 Oh never predict the weather !!-The month continued mild and wet with only two frosts. The summary for the month was very mild, very wet, but with an above average amount of sunshine. The temperature was about 3.5 o C above the average coming in at 7.05o C.This was the main reason that most of us had to cut the grass in late February. The rainfall was 116 mm but huge amounts of rain fell in selected areas (like the Yorkshire Dales and Airedale) around the 9 th, causing severe flooding in York and Castleford. A quiet spell of weather mid month was followed by damaging gales with a peak wind speed of 78 mph on the 22nd. It has been noticeable recently that strong westerly winds have been strongest on the eastern side of the Pennines and down places like the Aire valley. The month finished with a couple of dry days so we could all get the grass cut. As for March well who knows?
March 2002 was dryer than normal, sunnier than normal and warmer than normal. The weather in our area was quite boring with nothing happening worthy of note. The winter snowfalls remained in the Alpine region and apart from a brief shower the month was snow free and worth noting we only had 2 very minor frosts.
April 2002was dry ,warm and sunny-the temperature was 3 o C above average-and this does not reflect the warm day's that we had-because night time temperatures were low -with the clear sky. Frost was recorded in Lumby on 19 mornings however it was off the grass and cars by the time most people are up for work. A period of 17 days without rain was the longest dry spell in my record book for the time of the year-and was only broken by a couple of wettish days.
May 2002We got the rain that should have fallen in April-most people will remember the month as being cool, and dull-it was actually average apart from being a little wetter than normal-about 110 % of the 50year average. Nothing unusual in our area and few storms.
June 2002Slightly drier than normal, with  just below average amounts of sun-this was made worse because most of the brightness was from 4 am until about 10 am-normal low pressure conditions-but the clouds build and rainy evenings follow-so we remember the weather as being bad.
July 2002Well after a few boring months this one was a cracker. Saturday the 20th I recorded 25 mm of rain and hail in a 20 minute cloudburst. However they were very isolated and in Castleford not a drop was felt. The month started dull and cool (the heating being used in our house for the first time ever in July) but with night lows of 4-8 c over a number of nights, no wonder the wife was cold !!.Finally around the 13th  the sun came out and we had a runoff 4 dry warm days-the first since the beginning of June. However it quickly broke down and as described by the 19TH Storms were quite violent. Again, these are isolated and South Milford had a good one late on the Friday with allot of lightening and thunder. By the 22nd it was cooler and calmer. The week grew warmer and by the weekend 26/29th we were recording 29o c but the humidity was increasing so that the 29th was hot and sticky. Sitting outside the thatch on Monday (after training) the sky was full of lightning. The first short storm hit at 1.30 am when 15 mm of rain fell, the rest of the night was dry, but again flashes of lightning could be seen in every direction-mostly cloud to cloud. A very large storm just missed us to the east, and another clipped us at 6.00am.Tuesday was hot again, but by lunchtime with falling pressure some huge storms were building. RECORDS tumbled over 100mm in Halifax,60mm at Wetherby in 1 HOUR-for the most we got very little most of the worst storms slipping over Leeds and away northeast. Wednesday was the same more heavy rain and this time we caught some too, this continued into Thursday and we had 36 hours heavy rain. In fact it would be lunchtime Friday the 2 nd  of August before the rain stopped. I have recorded 110 mm since Tuesday about 2.5 times the July average. As I write the river in Castleford has burst it's banks for the first time during Summer in living memory after the catchments area recorded some 250mm of rain in 4 days-that's 10 "-almost half a year's worth. So to say the month went out with a bang really is no pun.
August 2002 Started as July finished with heavy rain on and off for the first 10 days-we had twice the normal rainfall in this period. The rest of the month was dry and warmer and a good end of the month saw some high temperatures and sunny days. Overall the month was wet, but this was condensed into the first period and fell in heavy thunderstorms rather than small amounts over a long period. Temperatures were slightly above the average and the sunshine total was 110% of the normal, rainfall was 215% the average.
September 2002Well it had to happen-rainfall statistics need looking at not monthly, not quarterly, yearly to find out if we are experiencing a wet period or not. After massive amounts of rain in July and August, Sepember had only ONE day with a measurable amount of rain. Monday the 9th we had 18mm the forecast warned us to expect 50mm ,but we avoided the worst and merely got a wet day. The rest of the month was warm and sunny and I saw garden's being watered all around the area. The early potatoes came up well amid very dry soil, dust was the biggest problem. We had a couple of cool nights towards the end of the month as the air came from the rapidly cooling continent, and they in turn had some awful weather with snow down to 1000 mtrs in the Alps. Overall our rainfall was but 22% of the average sunshine was 146% of normal and the temperature was 0.9oC above average.
October 2002 The month started as September left off ,dry warm and quite sunny. On the 2nd we had 21 oC in South Milford and this kind of weather continued until the 10th when it became very changeable. First the wind slipped in to the SSE and soon the fronts from the south pushed up some heavy rain. The odd night however was clear and on the 20th we had a hard frost of -4oC. The pattern however was set and long periods of rain started pushing up the monthly total. By the end of the month we had 165 mm or about 6.6" which left the local fields with much standing water. Overall the month was slightly sunnier than normal, and with average temps. The one highlight which missed was a reported sighting of a tornado cloud in the Kellington area-which was widely reported in the media. As the annual bonfire drew close the weather forecast for the 2nd was not good-more about that next month. The total rainfall for the year now stands at 625 mm or 25" and a wet November could mean that 2002 is wetter than the record 2000.
November 2002 The month started with us planning the bonfire and after 9 dry years, we knew time was running out. The forecast for the 2nd was bleak and after a mid-morning crisis meeting as to whether or not to cancel the decision was made to run the event even though we felt the weather was going to be bad. It was dry until 3pm and just as we were getting the fireworks set up the rain started. The wind became stronger and the rain heavier, luckily though the deluge came as most of you were at home. If the heavy stuff had of come at 7.30 we may not have got the fireworks off.
So the month continued with rain on most days, we had 27 wet days in the month. The total for the month was 155mm about 6" so the total takes us past the record year of 2000. The major difference this time was the rain came not in deluges but over a longer period ,so caused little local flooding.
Apart from the wet it was warm about 2.0c above normal with no air frost recorded.Sunshine levels were 95% of normal.
December 2002 The month started off cold and remained so with the odd mild spell until the Christmas period when it became very mild-Christmas day was the warmest for at least 10 years with local temps of about 13o C Very little snow fell only on the hills and then only the Cm. Overall the month was wet, mild and dull. Rainfall was high but it all fell at the end of the month we had about 130mm in total to give us a very wet year total 910mm about 36.4 inches. River levels were very high at the end of the year.
January 2003 Started wet and mild but we had the odd period of light snow-most of the heavy stuff stayed to the east coast. The M11 was closed for 24hrs because we had 2 inches and airports were closed around the end of the first week again because of a very small amount. We had some hard frosts down to -12 in our area.The weather turned much warmer and Scotland set a new record on the 26 and 27th with almost 19oC .We peaked at 15.5oC still very warm. However a few days later very cold air swept in and we had maximum of only 3oC . Overall the month was very sunny, dry and quite mild. Rainfall was only 66mm.
February 2003 As I was away skiing for a while I have to rely on local figures for some of the time. The snow we had found it's way to the alps and over 1.5mtrs of fresh snow down to 800m gave vintage skiing conditions, certainly the best I have had in the last ten years. A large anticyclone over Europe gave cold, dry, and sunny weather for long periods. This gave us cold nights but bright days. Overall the month was very dry 28mm and very sunny with 160% the average sun.
March 2003 The month started with changeable weather. and quite mild days and nights. From the 12th a large anticyclone that has been stable over Europe since mid February moved further east and stable conditions developed. On certain days the east was plagued with low cloud and fog and when this stayed the temperatures sometimes remained just a couple of degrees above zero. However when it burnt off warm days developed. This pattern remained for the rest of the month allowing night frosts and clear sunny days. Overall a Very dry month only 15mm and this was almost all in the first week.
Sunshine was 176% of normal almost 6 hours a day !! Temperatures in our  area were about 2.1oC above average. The dry spell is causing problems for farmers and as I write 24/04/03 rain is falling the first for some 5 weeks. will it be enough?
April 2003 The month started dull and mild, with high pressure still dominant over Europe. This soon migrated to Scandinavia extending a tongue over the UK giving still settled weather. We suffered as we are close to the very cold north sea ,but the west was sunny for many days. However eventually warm weather came across our area and whilst we had some frosty nights we also had the rare sight of a full moon, clear skies and no frost. This was caused by the warm air of the day being to warm to be cooled by the shortening nights. A short break between the 10/12 gave some snow in the south east but just a bit of sleet for us as a front from the east gave a reminder that it was still very early spring. A strong wind over the next couple of days dried the land even more. some places Cawood being one, had no rainfall for over a month at this stage. The warm weather came back and we topped at 26oc the highest April temp for well over 50 years. It was like high summer as people sat out side the pubs and BBQ's were the order of the day. Eventually after almost two months the high gave way and the Atlantic fronts started to push in. The month ended more changeable with some rain from the 24th.
Overall we had 142% of normal sunshine, temperatures 1.9oc above average and rainfall at just 19mm.
May 2003
The month was generally a little disappointing our area suffering from the frequent low pressure systems stuck in the north sea. The main facts were a couple of very cold nights around 0oC on the 14 and 15th with some ground frost reported. Whilst for our area this is not late in fact in recent years we have had a number of damaging frosts in May, it was harsh because most plants were at least a month on due to a warm spring. The end of the month became very warm with 26oC recorded on the last 3 days.
Overall the month was pretty normal with temperature up just 0.9oC on average rainfall 49mm and 6.02 hours of sun.
June 2003
This month was the warmest June since 1976 with overall the temperatures being 2.7oC above average. We recorded 28.5 as a peak and some/most evenings were warm. More typical of July or August. There was no long hot period as every few days the weather would become thundery.
Sunday the 22nd a violent storm swept our area early morning. with BBC radio Leeds taking a direct hit and a farmer friend of mine seeing his house struck in Wistow. Although the Lightning was ferocious along with the thunder, very little rain fell. This was the case over the month and until the last day when over 50mm fell out of the total of 66mm. The areas that caught the thunderstorms had more rain, but these were very localised. Overall the month was sunnier than normal 122% much warmer than normal and had about average rainfall.
July 2003
The month started cool and changeable with a low in the north sea again affecting our easten aspect. By the middle of the month high pressure from the Azores spreading to Scandinavia gave us a first hot spell. Most of
England was hot with temp up to 32oC (we were in Devon at the time) and on the 14th it was 33oC across most of the Uk and 29oC in Lumby at 6.00pm. After a brief cloudy period the hot weather returned and from the 26th it
was hot, dry and sunny. The weather broke on the 30th giving us our first rain for 4 weeks when 28mm fell.
Overall the month was warm. the nights being very sultry the temperature was 3.3oC above the long term average sunshine was 117% of normal and rainfall only 29mm of which 28 fell on one day.
August 2003
Has been an exception month with the UK recording over 100oF for the first time in 350 years. We peaked at 34oC.The month has been hot and sunny with no rainfall except some drizzle on the 28th amounting to less than 1mm. Some places missed this as a weak front from the north moved south to introduce much fresher and cooler conditions. In fact so much so that the night of the 27,28, and 29th were cold around 6/8oC.This may prevent August being the hottest month ever, but it will be remembered for the lazy hot ,long days. The drought in our area is now severe, it is noticeable that areas of grass have burnt off completely and whilst the harvest was in ,in a record time no land work has been done since as it is too dry. Winter crops of vegetables look very bad with some Cawood growers reporting that up to half the crop of Sprouts etc has been lost. Potatoes will also suffer and increased prices are starting to work there way through now. As I write a new large area of high pressure is sitting to the west and will soon cover the UK so no rainfall is likely this week.
My concern is that the Autumn may be very wet with localised flooding. The sea around the UK is warmer than ever almost 20oC in the south west and 18oC of the east cost. When the land cools and the sea retains it's warmth we may get some violent winter storms. Overall the month was 5.5oC warmer than normal, 165% of the average sunshine and only 1mm of rain recorded.
September 2003
The theme of the summer continued......in fact our first rain for six weeks fell on the 8th of the month a mere 10mm. The blocking high pressure which has prevented the wet south westerly from sweeping the Uk continued and after each one another formed in the Atlantic and drifted our way. The dry sunny weather meant we had some cool nights, in fact the temperature fell to zero on 4 occasions. The day's were warm and sunny, with a particularly warm spell between the 12/16 when locally temperatures were 24/26 Oc. This warm spell broke down and a weak front became stalled over northern England on the 19/21st and we recorded 27mm of rain. Some places just north received almost 3x this amount on the Saturday. However by Sunday the front had moved and warm dry weather was back. Towards the end of the month the weather was perfect,sunny,dry,cool nights and this has continued into the first week of October. As I write we have not had rain for over a week again. The main feature of the local weather was a cold front moving south that lowered temperatures from 22 to 12 oC in just over 1 hour. The summary of the month was the Sunniest for over 100 years with 6.1 hrs per day. Slightly warmer than average and dry with just 37mm of rain. I know believe that the last 0 months have been the driest ever in our part of the UK. Reservoir levels are just 35% of normal. When it comes there is going to be allot of water about. Lets just hope it's after the bonfire!!
October 2003
The month started warm and sunny And we recorded almost 19.5 oC (70 oF) on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of the month.
Until the 19th a large high pressure area over Norway controlled our weather giving us dry and warmish weather although with a number of cold nights. By the 19th the high moved and we ot much colder air pushed from the north with heavy snow in Scotland and over 1000 ft right own to Devon. Heavy rain in our region was followed by a very cold -3.3 night.
Overall the month was yet again dry 44mm ,sunny 139 hours in total but colder than normal due to a number of cold nights).The drought continues and is now serious.

November 2003
The month started with a spell of settled weather ,coolish nights and mild dry days.The 5th came and was dry just a cool strong s/e wind making it feel cold. We had a dry week in which to prepare for the bonfire but on the morning of the 8th a low cloud base brought drizzle from the east.By lunch the cloud was thinning and the afternoon was dry and the wind dropped off to very light. The night was as perfect as any we have had in the past. It just makes the fireworks look so good. The clear nights meant we had a few keen frosts and heavy snow just missed us to the east. The warmest day was the 6th when 17oC was recorded in Lumby.
The month remained dry but very heavy rain to the south of us gave almost 90mm in some parts. Overall the month was warmer than average by 1.6oC rainfall was only 36mm and the total sunshine was 110% of normal.

December 2003
Generally a quiet month will little to report. A couple of storms tracked
through and the month was very mixed between warm and cold spells.
The Christmas period was mild, with a warm south westerly air flow. Rainfall
in our area was 69mm Sunshine was a shade under 2hr per day and average
temperatures were .04oC above average.

Summary for 2003

The year as a whole was extremely dry, a total of only 423mm in our area which is less than 17". The year was warm and very sunny..more talk of global warming. We were not on our own..on a recent trip to Switzerland the locals were telling me that the glaciers had melted 10mtrs in depth in just 1 year.The North Face of the Eiger lost all it's snow and ice fields for the first time in living memory.

January 2004
The month started quiet and mild. A short cold snap on the 3rd gave us a
minus 6oC but it was short lived and mild wet weather soon spread from the
south west. Between the 7th and 13th we had 80mm of rain, and some Pennine
areas had over 200mm which caused the rivers to run for the first time in
six months.A high of 13oC was recorded on the 13th.The real battle was only
just beginning as a polar low came surging south (a few days later than
forecasters had us all believe) with impending doom as to the blizzards that
were coming.
The highlight for me was travelling back from Leeds at 11pm on the 27th as
the cold air smashed into the moist warm air over us at the time.It is rare
indeed to have a blizzard but with a massive electrical storm as well it
really was a rare occasion.We had only 2" of snow but the layer of ice
underneath made roads treacherous. Other parts just to the east got up to
6". We had a cold night but a day or so later warm SW winds swept in and the
snow melted fast. In fact so fast that York was flooded for the first time
in over 18 months and the Aire broke its banks at Castleford, flooding the
Allerton Ings for the first time in almost 2 years.The reservoirs were now
full and rainfall just came down the rivers.
Overall the month was wet 96mm, warm ,and had slightly more sunshine than
normal.

February 2004
A warm start and then a cold snap for a few days with some small amounts of
snow.The middle of the month was warm and cloudy. Towards the end of the
month it became much colder and we had several inches of snow, which lasted
over 10 days in lumby. The weather was sunny but very cold with much frost
at night.This lasted till the month end.
Overall very dry 41mm average temps and very sunny with 155% of the long
term average.

March 2004
The month started very cold following the cold spell at the end of Feb. By the 8th the weather was much colder and we had a small amount of snow and some very cold nights with much ice. Winds were from the east and for a couple of days it felt much colder than the 2 or 3 degrees that was recorded The main event of the month was some very stormy weather from the 18th with Saturday the 20th the worst. By midday the wind speed was up in the 70;s and gusts over 80 caused many trees (I counted 11 down between Lumby and Castleford) to be blown down or have huge limbs blown off. By midnight the storm was blown out ,but returned with less force during Sunday pm. During this time the air was warm with 14 degrees being recorded. I think the local effect of the air warming as it comes over the pennies caused the
storm to be much worse than forecast and for it to be so warm. This kind of wind is very damaging in our area and the greatest result many years ago was the blowing down of the cooling towers at Ferrybridge. The month ended quite warm and the final figures look like this.
Slightly warmer than normal at .02oC up on the long term average only 41mm of rain so very dry. It was also very sunny with 140% of the long term average.

April 2004
It was more like a normal April with some warm days and some cold periods. Parts of the south got heavy snow on the 19th,but by the 22 nd we were up to 23 degrees again. On the 26th a series of violent storms struck our area with Selby taking afew hits. I recorded 35mm of rain in the storm (but it just missed us)and 60mm over the period. The storms moved south causing much damage over the next few days. The reason was a cold front pushing into the warm air.
Overall the month was warmer than average with above average rain 97mm in Lumby but slightly down on sunshine with about 88% of the normal.

May 2004
The month started changeable with the odd outbreak of heavy rain. However our friend the Azores high pushed in by the 11th and the weather got much better. By the 15 th it was hot and Lotherton garden show was a great affair. The weather broke down a couple of times as weak fronts from the north pushed down, but the weekends were very good. A long period then until the month end remained dry with no rainfall in our area. Overall it was warm 1.5 above average. We had only 26mm of rain and the month saw 122% of the normal sunshine.
As the rainfall was in showers rather than bands some area got more or less our total.

July 2004
The month was very changeable and no long periods of settled weather was a great disappointment. Most of the weekends were dull and wet. Some parts of England have very heavy rain between the 7/11 of the month. Overall we had 98mm of rain which is above average. The nights overall were warm, which meant the mean average was higher than it felt. We had few daysabove 24 (75oF) ONLY THE 29/30 were warm with a 28 peak. Sunshine was average...overall a poor month.

August 2004 (please note this is not yet finished I will update next week)
This month will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
1) The wettest August ever (certainly in the last 100+years) with over 295mm
of rain That's almost 12" to date.
2)The warmest night ever Sunday 8/9th minimum 22o C or 72oF
3) Rain on all but 2 days during the month.
The month started as July finished with Low pressure systems bringing warm
moist air from the south.
The first week was unremarkable but by the 6th it was hot and sticky. A few storms were felt and 1 in particular was centred over Lumby with an almighty thunderclap that was by far the loudest for many years. Sunday the 8th was sticky and during the evening we had a superb electrical storm with only a few spots of rain and by 11pm the temperature was still 26
degrees. By early morning the storm struck and what started as a Hurricane ,got mixed
up with a low pressure system and fed in Very moist and humid air. By midnight Monday we had over 4" of rain that 100mm, the following day another 40mm and flash flooding was all the news. The River Aire flooded for the first time in living memory in August and by 7.00pm the road out of Castleford was under water 6 feet deep.Garforth had a storm that evening that put down 2" 50mm of rain in 30 mins ,and this left all the local roads under feet of water. Ledsham however was dry !!..so is the nature of thunderstorms. The rest of the week remained the same. Flash flooding in Cornwall was in the news....6" of rain in one thunderstorm that flooded Boscastle. We had rain at some stage every day..sometimes a shower others were torrential downpours. Friday the 20th we had another 2" 50mm and the temperature peaked at 13 deg only 54 o F. Sunday the 22nd and Thursday the 26th were two dry days (the latter may change as rain is forecast) The result is that nearly all the cereal harvest is in the fields, looking very poor, Potatoes are only lifted on the very sandy soils, and it looks
like being a terrible time for the farmers. 2 more Related Hurricanes have swept the UK . Talk of global weather change is all the rage again..The last day was dry and so the rainfall total stood at just under 12" or 300mm. Overall the month was Warm..as a result of the tropical air for most of the month, and the sunshine stakes were just under average at 98% of the long
term average. However the overall memory was of the torrential rain and thunderstorms on
most afternoons and evenings.

September 2004
This was to be a crucial month for the farmers. As it was it started dry and a few windy days helped dry out all but the heaviest land. The cereals were in by mid month even though many farmers were working until the early hours. The month was in our area very dry with just under 1" of rain at the end, and watering of gardens was taking place again. We had a few warm days at the beginning with a 24oC peak, but from mid month some cooler nights.Lows of 2oC by the 20th resulted in calls for the heating to go on. We were a little behind on sunshine at 97%, average temperatures, and dry at 24mm.