August Monthly Report

The typical weather for this August has broadly followed the same trends as most other months so far this year, particularly on temperature where once again it's been a little cooler than normal.  Rainfall in August has actually been significantly less than expected, though more days than average have seen some rain.

The reasons behind both these headlines are one and the same: mainly Atlantic weather producing more than our share of frontal systems and spells of unsettled weather.  Yet we haven't been troubled too much by low pressure, as the chart below shows.  Nor have we battled with strong winds (an average wind speed of just 3.9mph is nothing untoward).  No - the story of August 2015 is more that we just haven't had a sustained spell of high pressure to bring the warm sunny weather we want to see.

Back to temperature: the mean temperature for August was 15.3°C, slightly below the typical August average for Blackburn of 16°C (Weatherbase.com).  Our mean maximum figure was actually almost a degree higher than expected, but the mean minimum was nearly two degrees cooler.  The lowest temperature for the month was a chilly 6.4°C on the 12th - not what we want to see in August.

Rainfall for the month was 46.2mm, lower than our expected figure of around 65mm (msn.com).  But this year we've had rain on more days than we'd expect - 21 days have seen rain against an expected figure of 18, and this ties back to the weather patterns we've been seeing - frequent spells of wet (not especially wet, but wet nevertheless) weather coming in off the Atlantic.

As we move into September, we're already seeing dryer conditions take hold, and it will be interesting if a more settled pattern of weather will stick around for long as we head into meteorological Autumn.

July Monthly Report

The slight frustration about the weather felt in June has not gone away in July, in fact if anything the weather has been more of a disappointment.  Overall, temperatures have been a couple of degrees down on what we'd expect, all the more dismal considering the exceptionally high temperatures we saw at the start of the month!  The other standout stat on temperature is that it's been a pretty consistent trend downwards as this graph shows:

Wind in July hasn't been excessive, though there has been a steady breeze throughout the month, and always from a cool direction too.  The rain though has been above expectations - not by a lot, 70.5mm overall is around 10% above the seasonal expected amount, and the rain has fallen on most days - 21 days have been wet this month.

Of course, it's a well worn joke in these parts that the weather rarely plays fair during the traditional Wakes weeks - not generally observed now of course but historically the third and fourth weeks of July, and that's certainly been true this year.

June Monthly Report

June 2015 has felt like a fairly disappointing month overall, but the figures don't make it obvious why.  The temperature, rainfall and wind have all been close to the expected values we'd see, but despite this June feels like a disappointment.

An overall average temperature of 13.6°C is right on the average for Blackburn, at least according to MSN and Weatherbase.com, and the average maximum temperature was actually 1°C above the corresponding figures quoted on these websites, 18.2°C compared to 17°C historically.  The average minimum, at 8.6°C, was a couple of degrees or so below the historic average, but this isn't enormously different and as this relates to night-time conditions we wouldn't really notice anyway.

We had some windy days, most noticeably at the beginning of the month, but overall winds have been fairly light and unremarkable.  And the overall rainfall total, at 50.7mm, all but hits the historic average for June.

So do we just expect too much for June?  Perhaps there's a little in this, as June marks the start of summer when we all hope for a stretch of warm sunny days for picnics, barbecues and the like, so expectations are probably higher than they should.  But there's another factor going on too - the weekends in particular haven't been great, and these are the times when summer weather is most memorable.

Anyway, there's still plenty of summer left, so here's to a better July!

May Monthly Report

Well, it's no surprise really.  After a generally fine and warm April, May has been quite a let-down.

An initial glance through the data for May reveals just how poor this month has actually been. Surprisingly though, despite feeling cold for most of the month, May has still been the warmest month of the year to date.  Of course, normally this is what you'd expect, but after weeks of wrapping up against the cold it's hard to believe that May was still warmer than April - a mean of 9.8°C compared to 8.1°C last month.  What's more revealing though is the maxima and minima: maximum temperatures in May were down from 13.4°C in April to 13.3°C in May, but minimum temperatures were much warmer: up from 3.1°C to 6.4°C.  It's these warmer nights that have contributed most to the overall figure increasing slightly.  Compare May 2015 to typical values for May in our area though and you see that this year we're down by around 2°C, and this now makes more sense.

May this year has also been a windy month.  I can't compare the wind stats to an average, but looking at the year to date, May has been windier than every other month except January.  Wind speeds have averaged 6.3mph, and it's the regularity of the wind that's been notable (and from a cool direction too), rather than several short spells of high winds like we see in the winter.

We've also seen plenty of rain in May - the 85.8mm recorded again beaten only by January in 2015. Depending on which average values you compare to, this is between 1.3 and 2.25 times the normal monthly average, with 21 days being wet (around 15 is what we'd expect).

I think all this shows how varied our weather can be - glowing praise for the weather in one month can turn to gloom and despondency the next.  So, with that thought in mind, perhaps it can switch back just as quickly? - we'll just have to wait and see.

April 2015 Monthly Report

April 2015 has generally been quite kind to us with fine, dry and quite warm weather the dominant feature during the month, certainly throughout the first 3½ weeks anyway.  The tail end of the month was a let-down by comparison, but even so we recorded our highest temperatures so far (only since November 2014, remember), and the month as a whole came in as our driest yet.

April started cool, damp and dreary, but, apart from Good Friday (the 3rd), the weather improved steadily until a couple of bands of rain brought a brief unsettled spell close to the middle of the month.  After this, the pressure built up again and we had over a week of prolonged dry weather, with warm sunshine and light winds.  During this spell our temperature record was broken twice and we had three consecutive days in the low 20s, reaching almost 70°F.  By the time the fine weather broke on the 24th, we'd also been exceptionally dry (for April), seeing only 21.9mm of rain (and a third of this fell on the first day of the month).

It's a pity the last week couldn't live up to what had gone before - the temperatures dropped dramatically back to what they were at the start of the month, the wind picked up bringing a noticeable wind chill with it, and we had a further 24.3mm of rain, more than doubling our monthly total.



Finding 'typical' stats for Blackburn isn't easy, but the best figures I can find suggest that this year's April holds up well, but not exceptionally so.  Our average high was about 1½°C higher than we should expect, but our average lows were cooler by a similar amount.  April is usually one of the drier months, but, depending on which figures you use, this year has been slightly drier than usual.

The unsettled weather to end the month has carried into May, but by the time we can produce May's report then there's still every chance of us having some more better weather once again.

March 2015 Monthly Report

March 2015 has in many ways been a typical March - one where it felt like two months rolled into one.  We've had generally settled, if slightly cool weather for most of the month, but also two notable spells of rain - between the 8th and 13th and again between the 23rd and 31st.  This wet spell at the end of the month gave us 38mm of rain, with 15mm alone on the 30th, and altogether this accounted for 60% of the rain for the entire month.

During the drier spells it's often felt very pleasant.  We reached a maximum temperature quite early in the month, a heady 14.3°c on March 7th, but all this does is highlight how temperatures have generally been suppressed ever since.  More than half the month shows a predominant wind direction between a westerly to a north-westerly, and this has been the reason why there's been an edge to the temperatures throughout.  This isn't untypical for March, and the prevailing weather pattern has been very March-like, with several low pressure systems running through over Scotland or further north, and us picking up a cold airflow from the North Atlantic.

We've had some strong winds too, particularly at the end of the month, where we recorded our highest wind speeds to date (since November 2014).  Apart from a calm spell in the middle of the month, the wind has been noticeable throughout.

So how does this March compare to a 'typical' March in Blackburn?  Based on data from MSN and Weatherbase.com, March in Blackburn should average about 7°c, with mean highs around 9°c and lows around 3°c.  We recorded a mean temperature of 5.2°c, with a mean maximum of 8.8°c and mean minimum of 1.6°c.  So, simply looking at average temperatures, this March was slightly cooler than we'd expect.  Our 64.8mm of rain is close to the 61.9mm figure reported by MSN for our area, but some way above 50mm reported on Weatherbase.com.  Having lived in Blackburn all my life, I'd expect the higher figure to be closer to the mark, which means our rainfall has been pretty typical.  We had 19 days when rain fell, close to the 20 and 21 reported on the internet, so again fairly typical.  Our two days of snow (although fairly insignificant on both occasions) is what we'd expect for a Blackburn March too.

All in all we're not seeing anything out of the ordinary at the moment, but after a cool winter we're looking forward to some better weather to come as spring takes hold.

February 2015 Monthly Report

After a very wet January, February ushered in a sudden and welcome change with two weeks of generally dry weather.  Of course, the penalty for calm weather in winter is either fog or frost, and we had a taste of both during the first half of the month.  In fact, the cold weather was a feature of the month, with the majority of days colder than average, and figures overall for the month a full 1° cooler than expected for Blackburn*.

The dry spell at the start of the month also contributed to a lower rainfall figure than usual, our figure of 48.6mm being 19% less than the rainfall of a typical Blackburn February*.  Even so, our rain gauge still got wet on 14 days, exactly half of the total number of days in the month, which might not sound too impressive, but to us Blackburnians that's pretty good going!

February is normally when we would expect some snow, but, aside from a few flakes near the end of the month (which counts as a 'snow day' even though it didn't hang around), we managed to avoid a white-out.  A typical Blackburn February has around 3 days when snow falls, so the one day we recorded was another good result.

I don't have any historical figures to compare for wind speeds, but one interesting statistic produced by the weather station is the 'wind run', the combined distance travelled by the wind based on the continuous speed measurements taken by the station.  In February this was just below 3,300 miles, which compares very favourably with January (almost 5,300 miles) and December 2014 (4,550 miles).

So all in all, February passes all the tests, and even bucks the global warming trend too!  Let's hope the weather continues its good nature into spring, which is now just around the corner.

* Oakdale weather station average compared to historical data obtained from weatherbase.com.

January 2015 Monthly Report

The monthly report for January 2015 is now available:

January 2015 has certainly brought us plenty of lively weather, with strong winds for a sustained spell mid-month, and a cold end to the month with several days recording fairly light snowfall.

Temperatures overall during the month have been about average, but this hides a slightly warmer than usual first two weeks, followed by a noticeable cooling with temperatures in the second half of the month really quite cold on most days, especially when the wind chill factor is included (see graph below).

One of the notable features of the weather this January though has been the wind, with a sustained spell of strong winds between the sixth and the seventeenth, and picking up again at a lesser degree from the 27th through to the end of the month.  I also have my doubts that the anemometer we have is capable of recording high wind speeds accurately, as I was expecting higher figures, particularly gusts, than we have actually recorded.  The kit we use is more the budget end of the market, and I suspect that as the wind speed increases, there is a widening gap between the true speed and that we have recorded.  I've no evidence for this other than what I expected from seeing the local and national forecasts throughout the month.

There has also been a higher number of 'snow days' - days where snow has fallen - than is usual for January in Blackburn (where the mean number of days according to MSN is 4).  The nine days we had snow falling is well above this figure, and whilst the snow so far this winter has been quite modest, it was still enough to cause problems on the roads on the estate and even the main roads through Darwen and Blackburn at the end of the month.  This was more due to the timing of the snowfall rather than the amount we saw.

So we look to February, which starts on a cold note but much calmer than recently.  With the forecast suggesting such conditions will persist for most of the week, perhaps we're due a spell of unremarkable weather compared to what we've seen over the last few weeks.  But then again, the British weather is rarely so uneventful!

December 2014 Monthly Report

The monthly report for December 2014 is now available: