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):-

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.

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.