Analysis of Lydford weather
The
graph below shows monthly rainfall for the last 2 years (blue)
together with the 4 month moving average (orange).
The chart below shows average monthly rainfall by month, 1=January etc. NB. Large variations from year to year.
This chart shows the total rainfall in each year.
Records (since June 2007):-
Driest month: May 2020 at 2.3mm. Second driest is July 2022 at 8.5mm. Third driest was Feb 2023 at 10.5mm. Previous driest were Sep 2014 and June 2018 both at 10.7mm.
Wettest month: September 2024 at 166.5mm, was January 2014 at 165.8mm.
Wettest day: 18 June 2020 at 62.5mm
Highest annual rainfall was in 2024 at 1109.4mm, exceeding the previous record of 1079.3 in 2023
Highest temperature: 37.7C on 18 July 2022. Previous highest was 34.4C on 12 August 2020
Lowest temperature: -13.6C on 18/19 Dec 2010
Highest wind speed gust 124kph on 18 Feb 2022, 107kph on 7 Dec 2024
Latest weather news
Nov - Dec 2024
Weather very variable - cold with minimum -4.5C on 20th, storm Bert on
24th with wind up to 93kph and max of +16.5C. Storm Darragh on 7
December caused damage to house tiles and brought down part of the
Eucalyptus tree. Wind speed up to 107kph.
September - October 2024
September was the wettest month in 16 years! Not as wet as some places in England,
but bad enough. Trees and plants love it, and have grown a lot more
than usual. October continued with higher than average rainfall but also warmer.
August 2024
A dry month with one wet day making up more than half the monthly figure. Maximum temperature of 30.8C on 11 August.
June -July 2024
A return to drier weather although mostly cool in June. July reverted
to wet weather - seemingly months alternate wet and dry! Warmest day
was 31 July with 33.0C
29 Feb 2024 - May 2024
Exceptionally wet February - wettest since
these records began in
2008. March continued the trend, wetter than average. April
rainfall was about average, but May was wettest since these records
began. May had 114.9mm compared with an average of less than 50mm.
18 Feb 2024
Heavy rain during the night - 35mm recorded resulting in severe
flooding. River Brue - top of normal range 2.16m, above
this some flooding expected - reached a depth of 4.01m. The A37 was
impassable and traffic was diverting round the village over the bridge
(below right).
The field behind our property.
Road
bridge
The weir can just be seen - the channel is about 20ft deep.
The
footbridge was just clear
The river had spread over the footpath.
Jan 2024
A much drier spell, near average rainfall. Cold around mid month, minimum of -8.1C on 19th.
Nov - Dec 2023
November was another wet month until the last
week when the wind went round to north and temperatures dropped,
reaching -5.8C min on 25th. Wettest December since we started
recording at 146mm.
Sept - Oct 2023
September started quite warm with a max of
33.0C on 9th. Some cold
nights followed towards the end of the month with 2.5C on 23rd.
Rainfall was about average. October was very wet - twice the average
monthly rainfall and wettest October since these records began (2007).
July - August 2023
After the very dry June, the weather changed to a succession of low
pressure areas with ~20C temperatures and rainfall around twice
the normal for July at 125.5mm - a big contrast to July of last year.
August weather was variable with some days up to 28C max, others
distinctly cold (5.5C min on 30th) and with elevated rainfall at 74mm.
May - June 2023
First half of May was wet and cool, second half very dry and sunny but
cold at times with east wind. The last half of May and first half
of June were very dry - 34 days without rain.
Mar - Apr 2023
Mild wet and windy. 133mm of rain makes it wettest March since these
measurements started in 2007.A wetter than average April followed.
Jan - Feb 2023
The first half of January continued very wet with ~96% of the
rainfall for the month falling in the first 15 days. It was then
cold and dry with overnight minimum reaching -7.8C on 21 January.
Milder weather started around 27th. February was very dry - the
third driest month since 2007. Temperatures varied between a
daytime high of +14.1C on 19th and an overnight low of -6.9C on 8th.
Key events of the past
Feb 2022
A series of severe storms occurred from 14th to 21st Feb. Most serious was Storm Eunice on 18th with maximum gust speed recorded of 124kph (77mph, 67knots) - highest wind speed recorded at this address.
There was a further storm Franklin on 20th and 21st with gusts of
90kph. Eunice caused damage to the house roof and a power outage for
33hours.
Jan 2021
A cold month, minimum of -6.3 on 1 Jan and many days
with overnight below zero. 7 Jan notable for a maximum daytime
temperature of -2.3C. Extreme frost - image shows "frosticles" on
a guy rope.
June, July, August 2020
After the record dry May, we got a near record wet June, a total of 120.3mm and with the highest one day rainfall yet recorded here of 62.5mm on 18 June . July returned to a nearer average rainfall, and rather cool at times although a hot day on 31st at 30.7C. August had the hottest day so far on the 12th with 34.4C, followed by about 4 days of very humid weather with thunderstorms. Rainfall was high at 118.9mm.
May 2020
A record dry month - the driest since these records began in 2007, with only 2.3mm of rain.
August 2019
Total for the month was 99.3mm. On 11 August a stream of thunderstorms with torrential rain resulted in rainfall of 51mm - the highest one day figure since these records began in 2007.
The previous highest figure was 37mm on 24 July 2015. The weather
map shows the line of storms which continued to move from SW to NE over
the afternoon and evening.
February 2014
A series of severe storms has caused widespread flooding, wind damage
and travel disruption across southern England and Wales. Rainfall
for the month totalled 140.8mm which is another very high figure (average for the month ~60mm).
Notable wind gusts recorded here were 4 Feb - 93km/hr, 12 Feb -
106km/hr, 14 Feb - 100km/hr. [106km/hr ~ 66mph]
Shown below left are the Somerset levels - flooding at West Sedgemoor
looking north towards Stoke St Gregory and Burrowbridge with Burrow
Mump just visible at top right.
The image above shows flooding
of the River Parrett at
Langport.
January 2014
Last month's record rainfall was exceeded this month to achieve a new
record of 165.8mm. Serious flooding occurred on the Somerset
levels, reaching national and international news. Detailed
analysis is given below.
December 2013
The wettest month in over 6 years at 142.7mm, just above the figure for
December 2012. The weather has been mild with southerly winds and a
succession of low pressure areas, causing significant damage and
flooding across the UK. The 23 Dec was particularly bad with 36mm of rain and 100kph wind gusts recorded here.
October 2013
A
very wet month - at 126.9mm it is the second wettest month in the last
6 years. The "St Jude" storm on the 28 Oct caused widespread
damage and disruption across the south of England. Weather
reports suggested that Lydford was close to the centre of the low
pressure system where winds were not as strong, and so we were lucky
and suffered no damage. It was a close thing, as Yeovilton is
only 9km south of us and recorded a 76mph gust.
July 2013
Began hot and dry - no rain for 21 days from 2 to 22 July, ended with
thunderstorms. High temperatures up to ~34C causing distress to
some plants.
2012
December was the wettest month for the last 5 years, at 140.7mm.
Very
serious flooding occurred throughout the country and Somerset fared
badly. The fields are saturated, so that any further rain causes
immediate run-off into adjacent property. On 21 November 2012,
very heavy rainfall causes floods throughout Somerset and the west
country. Lydford escaped lightly with "only" 42mm, compared with
Okehampton's 92mm. Very high wind speeds all day with a peak gust
here of 105kph (65mph). Many roads flooded and/or
impassable. Seriously flooded roads encountered between
Baltonsborough and Wells. River Brue at Lydford is up to the
bridge arches again (see pic of May 2012 below).
The recently repaired lower weir at Lydford is seen here on 21
Nov 2012. The water in the foreground is ~20feet deep. Image on right
is same weir on 18 Nov.
More info on the Lydford weir repair is at http://lydfordweir.org.uk/
August 2012 rainfall was 110.9mm, the wettest August since we started measurements in 2007.
29 August 2012 - a heavy band of rain passing through west to east depicted here. This is called a line echo wave pattern. The pin indicates Somerton. We recorded 30mm of rain that day.
River Brue at Lydford on 1 May 2012.