September 2002 - England and Wales

Summary: Dry and rather warm overall. Dry and sunny at first. Very wet at start of second week with torrential rain in places. Mainly rather warm, dry and anticyclonic thereafter.

1st to 4th
A mainly dry and sunny start as high pressure drifted east to Russia, with a low forming over the North Sea by the 4th. It was generally rather warm with patchy mist and fog in places at first but there were outbreaks of rain in the SW later.

5th to 9th
Changeable to begin with as low pressure south of Iceland moved to the Irish Sea by the 7th. There were occasional outbreaks of rain and showers, especially in the W and NW. Some heavy thundery rain affected Kent and Sussex overnight 6th/7th. A depression from Biscay on the 8th passed over the region during the 9th , bringing squally winds and depositing copious amounts of rain over a wide area. The rain was torrential in places causing flooding, especially in the NW Midlands and the Swanage area where 121mm fell in 24 hrs, a one in 280-year event. Parts of the Isle of Wight were also deluged with up to 75mm of rain in 24 hours.

10th to 20th
Mostly dry under the influence of a ridge of high-pressure stretching from an Anticyclone over Scandinavia. The high centre later migrated to a position N then NW of the UK. It was rather cloudy at times in eastern areas but there were often good sunny periods in central and western parts. Rather cool at times near the east coast but mostly rather warm or warm at times in remaining areas with Exeter reaching 26.5°C on the 13th. Odd spots of rain occasionally broke out over east coast counties and East Anglia from the 16th onwards. Some thundery rain affected SW England at times during the 19th and 20th.

21st to 30th
The high pressure continued to dominate the weather, later drifting south then eastwards into the continent. Though mainly dry with lengthy sunny spells there were some scattered light showers in places on the 22nd, and in the east on the 23rd and 24th as weak fronts gyrated round the high. Some showery rain also affected northern and eastern areas early on the 26th with thunder reported in East Anglia. Temperatures were mostly near normal, becoming rather warm at times especially after the 28th as a SE airflow became established. The chillier night time spots had patchy mist and fog in the morning, with some districts having thick fog for a few hours. Some places experienced their first ground frosts of autumn. The last day saw showery outbreaks over Wales and SW England, with a report of thunder in Cornwall.

This has been the sunniest September since 1991 which had 5.80 hours per day

Statistical details

Central England Temperature (series begins in 1659).	The mean value for the month was 14.4°C	0.8°C above the 1961-90 normal of 13.6°C and is in the rather warm category Others:- 2001/13.4 2000/14.7 1999/15.6 1998/14.9 1997/14.2
England and Wales Rainfall Series (series begins in 1766).	The total for the month was 41mm	52% of the 1961-90 average and is in the dry category. Others:- 2001/83 2000/133 1999/121 1998/102 1997/30
England and Wales Sunshine Series (series begins in 1909).	The mean value for the month was 5.43 hours per day	124% of the 1961-90 average and is in the rather sunny category.