Autumn
- the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness
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| Autumn
leaves filter late September sunshine. |
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The
equinox on September, 23, means that summer is well and truly over.
So what can we expect from the autumn? Points West weatherman Richard
Angwin looks at the record books to see if he can glean any clues.
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People
talk about the seasons all running into one another these days.
This may, or may not, be true. But certainly September is a month
which seems to be very difficult to categorise.
September
weather
The
5th of September 1999 was the warmest September day ever recorded
in Bristol with temperatures in excess of 27°c.
Only twice in the last 50 years have September temperatures failed
to reach 20°c on at least one day. And generally speaking notable
Atlantic storms are comparatively rare during this month.
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| The
changing colours of autumn |
By late September the frequency of ground frosts increases quite
markedly and air temperatures too can fall fairly close to freezing.
October weather
But
it is October when the weather begins to turn nasty.
The Great Storm (forever blamed on Michael Fish) was on the 15th
and 16th of October in 1987 and although Bristol missed the worst
of it, wind speeds touched 75 mph across the City at the height
of the Storm.
And it is noticeable how the frequency of strong winds and heavy
rain coincides with a marked drop-off in temperatures.
Air frosts are quite common in October, and in 1951 an air temperature
of minus 5°c was recorded at Filton.
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| Richard
Angwin - Wiltshire weather is his expertise. |
Average
minimum temperatures in November are three degrees lower than in October
and although we once recorded a temperature of 19°c in November
1946, night-time temperatures can easily fall to minus 5°c.
One surprising statistic though is that, on average, November is not
as wet as October.
It is not unusual for spells of more settled weather to develop during
this month and fog can be a major problem.
Still warm air can hold more moisture than during the winter months
but nights are long, hence fog may form quite readily and be slow
to clear.
If such a settled spell coincides with Bonfire Night then smog conditions,
reminiscent of the 1950s, can result.
Of course those long nights mean that even the theoretical maximum
amount of sunshine is falling off rapidly. The sunniest October on
record (1997) was almost twice as sunny as the sunniest November (1989).
And then before you know it Christmas will be upon us…
Richard
Angwin
Points West Weatherman
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