December 2013 has been notable for the amount of damaging storms we have had plus the overall warmth. It has been the stormiest December since 1969 and the stormiest month since January 1993. The highest temperature recorded was in Scotland 16.6c.
The jet stream is a ribbon of fast moving air below the tropopause which has been at its strongest for a while. One of the reasons for the storms is the unusually mild Atlantic ocean and the extremely cold air over north America.
In the CET area the final figure came out at 6.34c which is nearly 2c above normal.
January outlook
The rest of January is looking wet and mild with an increase in cold weather for the final week of the month.
Statistics for Watford – December 2013
This month turned out to be the wettest month of the year with 96.9mm. It also had the years longest wet days in a row of 16 days which ended on the 26th. The maximum temperature was 13c.
Temperature (°C):
Mean Minimum 2.6
Mean Maximum 9.8
Minimum -2.6 day 11
Maximum 13.0 day 16
Highest Minimum 7.1 day 15
Lowest Maximum 4.9 day 11
Air frosts 5
Rainfall (mm):
Total for month 96.9
Wettest day 26.1 day 23
High rain rate 28.8 day 23
Rain days 21
Dry days 10
Wind (mph):
Highest Gust 24.4 day 23
Average Speed 0.2
Wind Run 152.4 miles
Gale days 6
Pressure (mb):
Maximum 1036.3 day 01
Minimum 986.9 day 23
Days with snow falling 0
Days with snow lying at 0900 0
