BOULMER WEATHER
Kindly provided by
Ian Dawson of RAF Boulmer Met. Office.
January
Temperatures, rainfall and sunshine very near average. Thirteen days with
snow falling, somewhat above average and the 'snowiest' month of the winter.
February
Temperatures and rainfall somewhat above average. Exceptionally sunny with
115 hours against the average of 73. Sunniest February on record. Only three nights
with frost.
March
Temperatures below average, a little colder than February. Fourteen nights with
frost, the highest on record for March. Sleet/snow fell on 10 days. Rainfall below
average, but again sunshine well above average.
April
Temperatures a little above average, with normal rainfall. Sunshine again well
above average.
May
A very warm start, with 22.4 deg.C on the 4th being a new record for May. Colder
mid month with the last snow of winter on the 14th, and the last frost on the
16th. Becoming warm with 18 deg.C on the 29th. Monthly temperatures overall above
average. Normal rainfall but yet another sunny month.
June
Rainfall well below average, temperatures just below, and sunshine just above.
July
Temperatures and sunshine a little above average. Rainfall well below normal.
Dry spell began on the 18th, the start of a five week period with only 2.8mm (1/10
of an inch) of rain.
August
Temperatures well above average, with hottest day of the year (26.5 deg.C) on
the 15th. Exceptionally dry and sunny. Only 11mm (less than ½ inch) of rain
made it the driest August on record, while the sunshine of 269 hours meant that
this was the sunniest month of any previously recorded.
September
Temperatures near normal. Sunshine a little below normal, the first such month
of the year. Rainfall approaching twice the average, largely thanks to a very
wet period with 3 inches between the 4th and the 9th.
October
Very mild, with the max of 21.6 deg.C on the 8th being higher than anything recorded
in September. Rainfall well below average, the driest October since 1986. Sunshine
back above normal, the sunniest October since 1984.
November
A dull wet month, but still with temperatures above normal. First frost of the
winter on the 5th, and first snow on the 17th. A small amount of snow settled,
quite early for this to happen.
December
Cold, dull and wet. Four inches of rain made it the wettest month of 1995, and
only 42 hours of sunshine the dullest. Frequent snow showers 19th - 25th, producing
level depths of 11cm by the 27th, with considerable drifting. Severe frost by
day and night during the last week, with minimum of -11.3 deg.C on the 29th, being
the coldest night of the year, followed by the coldest day with a maximum of only
-4.8 deg.C.
Year
Temperatures well above the long term mean, third only to 1989 and 1990. Thirtynine
days of air frost is almost exactly normal. Total rainfall of 653.3mm is almost
exactly the average of 652.8mm. Measurable rain fell on 187 days, again very near
normal. Total sunshine 1769 hours compared with 1538 second only to 1789 recorded
in 1989. Days with sleet and snow falling 42, average 34.
N.B.
Boulmer's records only go back to 1976.
The weather data, kindly provided by Ian Dawson of RAF Boulmer, replaces weather
measurements in Belford which could not be carried out.
Monthly averages tend to even out the extremes and so it seems appropriate to
say that the group working on the survey remember 1995 as a year of strange weather.
The winter had been mild but there was snow occasionally until very late in the
year.
Towards the end of June a long, hot dry summer began causing water supply problems
in much of the country but not in Belford! The countryside was brown by late August,
causing visitors from Western Australia and California to say it was "just
like home!"
There were days of tremendous rainfall in early September, and the year ended
with a deep, white Christmas and very cold temperatures in the last week. An interesting
letter from Bob Johnson, weatherman on Tyne Tees Television, is to be found in
Box BRO 564 at the Berwick Record Office.
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