Thanks to Nathan very kindly sending me his weather station (so that I am now able to record the temperature remotely, which being a carer is an absolute godsend) I am now able to produce my first full climate data for January 2019. The average maximum temperature was 8.09°C (46.56°F) and the average minimum temperature was 3.87°C (38.97°F) with the mean temperature being 5.98°C (42.76°F). Compared with long term averages (as published by the UK Met Office), we have been on average for the maximum (47°F) and warmer than average for the minimum (36°F). The extremes for the month were a maximum of 12°C (54°F) on the 13th and a minimum of -4°C (25°F) on the 3rd. Despite the forecast of mass dumps of snow across Wales over the last day, we have had absolutely nothing here and only very small amounts on the nearby hills.
With regard to rainfall we had a total of 53.5mm (2.10″) on 14 days. On average we are supposed to have 11 days of rain in January delivering around three inches of rain.
Thanks Harry. Good to see your basic data for January. With 14 days of rain yielding only 2.10″ , you must have mostly light daily amounts. Does your weather station record trace amounts? Usually they don’t, and you have to closely observe the conditions to notice and record trace amounts. Any amount, even a few drops, counts as a trace. Can you measure snow if you get any? Can you compare your temp averages to any nearby official stations?
Thanks again for posting. I eagerly await hearing back from you and seeing your February data in about a month. I haven’t even started to compile my January data, as I record and report a lot more daily data than just the basic daily temps and rainfall/snowfall.
Kevin
I have been led to believe that if the amount of rain is less than 1mm (0.04 inches) it is formally announced as “trace”, the good thing is that my guage does indeed have a 1mm mark clearly visible therefore any rainfall below that is counted as “trace”. In the 17 years that we have lived on the coast it has only snowed on the following occasions: November 2010 – January 2011, January 2013, February 2018 therefore it doesn’t snow enough to be able to answer that question.
The nearest official station (that is comparable) is Aberporth (a village some fifteen miles down the coast), however that station is 120 metres higher up than me and therefore is more likely to get colder temperatures than I do (and therefore is not suitable for direct comparison)
Perhaps this concept of a trace amount being less than 1 mm is different than in the U.S.A. because our rain gauges are calibrated to the nearest 0.01″ inch. Any amount less than half of 0.01″ (0.005″) is considered to be a trace here in the U.S. So we have two different definitions of trace amounts in the world if this is true. Let’s see if we can get some discussion going on this topic. Comparing your precipitation amounts with Aberporth could be useful in certain types of events, if not the temperatures due to the elevation differences. Thanks for posting Harry!