June After cold start, temperatures recovered to be about 1.5°C (2.7°F) above average for June. Two mini-heatwaves in first and last week, but only two days of rain and the total less than 40% of average. Sunshine I would expect to be above the average of 7 hours per day for this month. We missed out on some torrential rain which fell west of Dunmow and caused flooding in Harlow. The month saw little variation in pressure, with two periods of anticyclonic weather as the "Azores" high extended it's influence from the SW.
May Unfortunately due to holidays some of the figures are not available. With 82mm (3¼") this was the wettest May for some years, though the total for the year is considerably less than average.
April A cold second week in an uneventful month. Sporadic rain throughout, again with totals well below average. We had the showers, but none really heavy. In fact the rainfall this year is less than half that expected. Pressure did not vary much (1001-1024 mBar), with low pressure to the NW, winds were often in the SW or W. Air frost on one night, but ground frosts prevailed in the early part of the month. Overall temperatures a bit above average, as well as sunshine.
March The coldest March since records began, the first signs of Spring being delayed until the last week. Dry again, rather cloudy with some persistant east winds with a few snow flurries. Frost recorded on no less than 15 nights. Winter ( Dec Jan & Feb in meteorological terms ) very dry, temperatures below average like the rest of Southern Britain, but we missed any real snow here in NW Essex.
February Another dry month, about 75% of average. NE/E winds dominated for two thirds of the month but with dry air there was little precipatation. Light snow fell on 2 days, but accumulations were minimal. The very cold air over the continent never quite reached us. Because of mostly cloudy night skies, and wind strength, only slight frosts were recorded on 6 occasions.
January Temperatures about average, but colder in the last 10 days as the easterly flow dominated with high pressure over Scandinavia. A very dry month, with less than half the average rainfall, no rain was measured after the 20th. No snow recorded, just sleet showers on a couple of days.
Rainfall
Averaged over a number of years we can see the pattern of rainfall through the year (orange shaded area).
January this year had about 30% of the recent average rainfall, February less than three-quarters and March a little more. If that is typical of the rest of the country then no wonder that some areas had hose-pipe bans. The Summer was fairly dry but the Autumn slightly above average. 2005 figures are shown for comparison.
Temperatures
The average temperatures for each month show a much more even seasonal variation with January - February the coldest months and July - August the warmest. The first three months this year have been slightly below the recent average, especially March.
Average, daily maximum and daily minimum (night-time) temperatures are shown with 2005 for comparison.
Nationally September was the warmest on record and locally this can be seen where the average night-time temperature is just above the daily average for the month.
