Despite widespread flooding in the country, including the East Midlands, in the latter half of the month, November’s rainfall was slightly below average for the month. Winds were also lighter than normal and temperatures were slightly down on the mean for the month.
The highest temperature recorded was 13.3°C on the 20th at 14:09, the lowest maximum temperature so far recorded at Bracken House in November. The lowest temperature recorded was -2.2°C at 05:23 on the last day of the month. The average temperature for the month was 6.0°C, which is 0.8°C below the mean. In the year so far, seven of the eleven months have shown below average temperatures. There were 57.2 hours of sunshine in the month, a total which beat the June total of 50.7 hours. The first air frost of the autumn was recorded on the 18th when the temperature dipped to -0.3°C. There were three air frosts in the month – the others being on the last two days of the month.
The rainfall total for November 2012 was 70.6 millimetres, well up on 2011’s total of 25.2 millimetres. The mean for the month is now 71.7 millimetres, making November only the third month of the year so far with lower than average rainfall – the other months being February and March. Rainfall was recorded on 23 days with the wettest being the 21st, when 12.0 millimetres fell. The two main reasons for the extensive flooding was that 91% of the month’s rain fell in the second half of the month and water tables were high following above average rainfall through the summer. There has been 741.4 millimetres of rain so far in 2012, 207.6 millimetres more than normal for this time of the year.
Winds were again light with the maximum wind speed being 21.9 mph from 225° (SW) on the 22nd at 17:11. The maximum gust speed was 35.7 mph from 203° (SSW) also on the 22nd at 17:29. The average wind speed for the month was 3.6 mph, with the average gust speed being 6.1 mph. The monthly wind run was 2442.7 miles.
The average barometric pressure was 1007.3 millibars, with the maximum being 1026.0 millibars on the 14th at 09:52, and the minimum being 973.6 mb on the first at 05:15, the lowest pressure reading of 2012.
Autumn (September to November) figures show that the season was much colder than average at 8.9°C, well below the season average of 10.0°C. Rainfall was 177.8 millimetres, much higher than the average of 152.7 millimetres.
