Hello winter.

Welcome to winter, well only in terms of the meteorological calendar, is it winter. Confused, see the winter solstice pages here.

So on reflection, what was meteorological Autumn like, well when looking back at my weather station, you can clearly see the UK (at least the southern part) was both, exceptionally mild and dry. The figures in the red boxes show consecutively warmer months, with November notably warmer than average. The figures in the blue boxes show the worrying rainfall deficit, each month, being well below normal.

Actually, if December was to become even a normal month, in terms of precipitation, i.e. with 64.7mm falling from the skies from this point on. The deficit would still be, well over 100mm (4 inches) in old money. It would be depressing times indeed, if this were to continue, furthermore the official forecasts I’ve seen, suggest it will. Into 2012 and beyond, there is likely to be a desperate need for water in Southern England, because bizarrely, the current government wishes to reinvigorate our economy, by creating yet more urban development. This part of the country is already under strain in terms of its population, a crude estimate of 25 million, with 12-14 million in the London area alone. Sadly, in my opinion, the first thing requiring reinvigorating is the rainfall. Statistically, the trend of decreasing rainfall down south has been continuing for many a recent year. However, much further north, the reality is most certainly different.

This is most definitely, a cause for debate.

Best Wishes

Tony Powell