UK Climate/Monthly climate summaries/November 1996

The UK in November 1996: Michael Hulme on last month's weather

Daytime temperatures
After mild Novembers in 1994 and 1995, November 1996 was a cold month in the UK averaging about 1.2°C below average. This was not as cold, however, as November 1993 which was 1.8°C below. A mild first week and an average second week, were followed by a very cold second half of the month. For November, all locations in the UK were below the average, but Scotland and the north of England were the coldest in relative terms, averaging nearly 2°C below usual.

Rainfall
November was a wet month, particularly in the east of England and Scotland where rainfall amounted to between 50% and 100% above average. There were no days in November that were dry throughout the UK and half the monthly average rainfall fell during the first week. The wet autumn has largely compensated for the drier months experienced earlier in 1996 in January, March, June and July.

Sunshine
November continued the sequence of sunny months in the UK, surprising given how wet the month was. In relative terms, parts of the extreme south and north of the country were sunniest, Lerwick recording nearly twice its November average and Folkestone more then 60% higher. It is not often than Lerwick enjoys more sunshine in a month than Morecambe, but it happened this November.

Dr Mike Hulme is a Research Climatologist at the University of East Anglia

November 1996: cold, wet and sunny

Mean monthly extremes