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2015 Weather and plant records
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2015 summary and 1995-2014 averages
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. 2015 was an unusual year, windy and colder than usual especially in January with a temperature down to 0.4º in the first week. leaving the month with the lowest mean monthly temperature in my records. Otherwise it was both wetter and sunnier and with a higher barometric pressure for most of the first 5 months and temperatures above average, despite which many of the Spring flowers were running up to 2 months late on their first flowering. On the 2nd. August we had the highest temp recorded at my station since 1997 and with none higher in the records since 1955 and this started a spell of unusually warm nights and slightly above average day temperatures which brought many of the 'spring' flowers into bloom again with primroses and veronicas and many "Weeds" and shrubs flowering in November and December. The birds too were thinking it was spring again and pairing up whilst, hedgehogs were still walking around at night well into November. One of the several Mallards which patronise my garden and bring their broods to swim and feed in the spring, brought 9 newly hatched ducklings as her 3rd brood of the year into the garden on 4th September by which time the earlier broods were flying well. I fear they don't have much chance of surviving to adulthood and the hedgehogs are too late going into hibernation for the probable survival of the younger ones.
The last 3 months of the year we suffered frequent very windy conditions mostly from SW and up to 60 mph on several days which blew all the leaves and flowers off garden shrubs like Daturas and Privet and both leaves and branches off deciduous trees and the remaining flowers of a number of shrubs and Daffodils, some Lillies, and few evergreen tree species and hedges which were having a second flowering in December and January 2016. Even some of the sedges were blooming again but late.......
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Monthly Weather summary 2015
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Monthly Weather Notes for 2015
January 2015.
A very windy month with gales reaching about 60mph and less sun than last year, bur only 5 days totally without sunshine and was still higher than the 20-year average.
Some rainfall or drizzle occurred on all except 4 days and the total for the month was considerably less than last year but still well above the average.
Daytime temperatures were slightly above average but 2 nights went down to 0.4ºC, which is considerably lower than last year. Barometric pressure was quite high until the last few days of the month.
My limited equipment at home does not allow the considerable range of records I have submitted for the last 25 years and I await with interest the activation of the weather station at the harbour, when it eventually gets installed and someone is found to record the sensors daily and prepare the monthly and annual summaries, using the templates I supplied.
I do have a duplicate SunRec sensor, so that figure is pretty accurate although it is only installed about 20 feet above ground level and not just over 50 feet as before.
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February 2015
With the States Weather Station, now at the Harbour Office and completely out of action, for an indefinite period, these are the best figures I can supply from my own sensors in my garden.
Another cool and very windy month with big seas and generally high pressure. rainfall was well below last year's, but about average whilst sunshine was almost equal to last year and double the 20-year average.
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March 2015
With 16 dry days, only 1 day with more than 10mm rain and only 5 sunless days, March was unusually dry, but still had less sun than last year by almost 100 hours. Nights were colder and although the highest and mean day temperatures were above average the strong winds (to 60mph on some days), made it feel much colder for much of the month. Huge seas and masses of foam were seen on many days and the breakwater gave some spectacular spray heights.
Sea mist or fog drifted in on several days for an hour or two and there were 2 very brief hail showers, the one on 2nd March put down almost an inch in some sheltered spots, but it all melted within an hour or so. Drifting thick cloud during the partial eclipse coinciding with the Spring Solstice day sadly only gave very brief glimpses of the moon's passage across the sun.
Unusually high and low tides on 19th-24th, peaking at 6.63m with a low of 0.31m on 22nd however gave an unusual glimpse of the huge area of rocks in Longis Bay and a large section of the boiler and ribs of 2 of the wrecks showing in Braye Bay.
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April 2015
Due my absence on holiday the figures for rain and sun are those recorded by the instruments up to 17th April with the only rain at 8.5mm on 3rd and none on the other days to 17th, shows the total rain held in the 2 gauges up to my return on 3rd May which had also been dry except for a single shower accounting for the extra 2mm. It was generally a very dry, cold and windy month but still slightly warmer than April last year and the long-term average.
The computer recording the SunRec's sensor figures minute by minute from a permanent USB connection had to be turned off during my absence as a possible fire risk. The temperatures included the first 3 days of May in their max, min and average figures but are unlikely to be higher than those for the whole of April as local info suggests it was a colder month than May.
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May 2015
May was a generally dry, windy, cool but reasonably sunny month, with 19 days without rain and only one day with more than 4mm, only 11 days with less than 10 hours sunshine, 3 flat calm days and 3 foggy.
ay and night temperatures were slightly below average but it felt very chilly in the strong winds for much of the month. My present equipment does not give me wind speeds or a daily mean temperature record.
The barometer was lower than usual on many days, with a lowest level of 1008 millibars and only 4 days registering 1030 or slightly above to 1032 maximum and overall was 3 points lower than the monthly average.
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June 2015
Generally a windier month with gales on 9th and 10th and very rough seas on several days, and cooler than usual for June, until the last week when temperatures over 26º were recorded on 3 days with the last day of the month reaching 28.9º. This was the second highest June figure in our records, kept daily since 1955, with only 1998 at 29.9º being higher. 1957, 1976, 2000, 2006 & 2007 also had levels above 26.1º recorded in June, the highest of these being 27.4ºC. Cooler nights and a cool sea with temperatures still barely reaching 18º helped to create fog on 7 days either in the early morning or the late afternoon and there were delays at both airport and harbour. The island's swimmers, the hardier of whom expect to swim from some time in mid-late April, mostly did not get wet until the 2nd week of this month.
Although the total rain for the month was almost double that recorded last year it was still only a little more than half the 20-year average for June and the total for the year-to-date was barely half that of both 2014 and the long-term average.
Sunshine total was also well down on these two figures although there were 6 days with over 15 hours, it was well above the long term average but still well behind last year. Humidity and UV levels were both above average.
The weather station has still not been re-erected at the Harbour and my reports are still from the simpler instruments in my garden. Rainfall and the max. and min. temperatures are more or less accurate, with the rain collecting gauges either side of the house agreeing closely and the digital temp sensor being completely shielded from the sun under the W gable-end eaves and fed to a display unit which gives a continuous view of inside and outside temperatures and retains daily max, min. and average readings until it is reset each morning. My sun recorder is sill running continuously and giving unobstructed figures when the sun is clear in 1/100ths of an hour from the moment of sunrise to sunset, with the trace on a computer screen graph changing from Red to Grey if a cloud passes over the sun.
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July 2015
July was a windy, cool, mainly dry, month, with 18 days having no rain and under 0.5mm on 3 more days, until the last week when 2/3rds of the total fell on just 2 days. It was unique in being one of the rare "Blue Moon" months with 2 full moons on 1st and 31st. The first day is known as the "Buck Moon" but I don't know why and the second is the Blue Moon. This event I believe will not be repeated for about another 18 years. It has given rise to infrequent occurrences often being described as happening "once in a blue moon".
St. Swithin's day produced 4mm of rain but so far has not produced the oft quoted 40 days of continuous rain if it rained on that day and the last 3 days of the month had almost wall to wall sunshine, close to the maximum approximately 15 hours possible at this time of year, now that the longest day has passed.
Gardens and grassy areas soon got very dry. Sea mist and fog were frequent, mostly early and late in the day and humidity was high throughout most of the month. Strong winds kept the temperature down on many days with the 1st of the month having the highest figure. Night temperatures were mostly around 13-14º with several almost clear skies helping the temperature to drop, but the strong winds also made it feel much colder.
Sunshine was often obscured by thin clouds but still recorded with a high level of brightness behind the haze, no days were totally overcast. The total for the month was 100 hours below last year but still a little above the average in the last 20-25 years. UV levels and pollen counts were high with many hay-fever sufferers, except on 24th when it rained almost continuously.
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August 2015
August 2nd was the hottest day ever recorded in my temperature records, which go back to 1957, beating the previous record of 29.45º in 1975 by a whole degree centigrade, but on the whole the month's temperatures were lower than usual due to strong cool winds and the sea temperature was mostly 18º or below as a result.
There was only one day without any sun, but cloud overcast and frequent fog/sea mist reduced the total amount for the month to over 125 hours less than last year and about 50 hours less than the 20-year average.
It was a generally miserable month with a lot more rain than August last year, although with 14 dry days and only 6 days having 10mm or more rain, but this came as sudden very heavy but usually short showers and many days of drizzle, or fog drifting in and out despite the strong winds, often from a northerly direction. Flying was disrupted on many days and totally abandoned I believe on one day.
The wind, rain and an invasion of myriads of small jellyfish and a few large ones which has lasted across the last 3 weeks of the month spoilt the bathers swimming and a number of people were stung, but fortunately most not badly. This sort of invasion tends to happen every few years but has lasted much longer than usual this year. Conveniently for the events, there seemed to be only a few jellyfish about at the times of the "Man-powered flight" in the inner harbour and the Daft Raft race in Braye bay.
Rough seas, jellyfish and unsuitable daylight tide times meant that most of the regular swimmers got far fewer suitable days than they would have liked.
Alderney Week had poor weather forecasts on many days, but most of it just about passed us by or the rain only lasted a few minutes and none of the festivities were cancelled or blown away. Full marks to the new team who organised it all. The fantastic conclusion to the week, with more people taking part in the torchlight procession through town than I can remember seeing in my almost 30 years here and the best firework display ever, which finished the week's festivities about 5 minutes before the rain started.
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September 2015
September was a very windy month, often with very rough seas. It was most unusual in that it contained a rare "Bloodmoon" and a total eclipse of the moon on 27th. combined with the highest tides of the year on 29th/30th. A clear sky that night encouraged many people to be watching for it around 2am and they saw some spectacular sights. These features will not be repeated for about 30 years.
(Another unusual feature of the month was a plague of Jellyfish on most days and on most beaches with the wind direction apparently keeping them from a different beach on various days. Many people have been stung). Combined with the strong winds and a maximum sea temperature around 18ºC the island's swimmers have had a poor year so far.
There were 18 completely dry days, several days with fog early and sometimes late as well, interrupting air schedules, no days totally without sunshine and 8 days with more than 11 hours sunshine, including the autumn solstice on 23rd. with 12.6 hours (almost the equal day/night), but the total for the month was far lower than last year and only a little above the long-term average, but there were many days with totally overcast periods. Day temperatures were below average, but with the heavy cloud cover some nights were a bit warmer than usual. The days were fine for the 3 days of car speed trials and the annual Hill Climb up Tourgis hill and the International Air race weekend was mainly sunny but windy and some good speed times were recorded.
The total rainfall for the month was below average but far greater than last year's almost dry month, whilst the total for the year so far, was similar to last year and both were about 200mm (nearly 8") more than the average January- September total. This higher amount of rain has benefitted many of the wildflowers and the berry crops on many trees, especially Hawthorn, Wild Privet, Sloe and Apple crops are heavier than usual.
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October 2015
October proved to be a very windy month, drier and less sunny than last year and feeling much colder. 17 days were dry and none had more than 8mm rain. The Barometer was high except for 3 days early in the month and again with a few low days at the end of the month.
Apart from the single day with 8mm, mostly in one torrential shower, most of the rain was either in brief showers or in several hours of fine drizzle for much of the month. Total rainfall and sun for the year-to-date were well below last year but above the 20-year averages.
Heavy overcast on many days and the wind from NE made a miserable pattern and, combined with an unusual plague of thousands of jellyfish through much of it, few of the swimmers got many days in the water. 10.6 hours sun on 2nd and completely clear skies from about 07.50 on the last day with a further 8.4 hours gave almost 2/3rds of the total for the month beween them.
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November 2015
Owing to the breakdown of the States Weather Station which has not yet been replaced at the Harbour Office the 20-year average figures can only be given for those items I can still record at home, including all the figures below. The barometer was quite high for most of the month around 1020-1030 mbars and only 2 days with 2003 and 2005 as the lowest recorded. Humidity was generally high.
November on the whole was a very windy month with force 8-9 gales, mostly from NW, reaching 60-70mph and possibly gusting higher. Some fantastic breakers were noted along the breakwater and on the Forts walls with spray rising 30-40 feet above them and rollers looking like 8-10 feet in the bays on the N side of the island. Average temperatures throughout the month were mild for November and rainfall and sunshine amounts were low, with only 12th with 12.2mm having an appreciable amount, but there were only 6 completely dry days with the strong winds and frequent fine drizzle on most days, with a few very brief, heavy showers making it a pretty miserable time. The highest temperatures recorded were on the first two days and the lowest on 23rd, several night skies being cloudless around the time of the full moon on 26th.
There were 11 sunless days and brief intermittent sunshine amongst overcast skies for much of the month in the daytime, with a surprising number of brilliantly clear, starry, but still windy, nights.
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December 2015
December was unusually warm throughout the month. Except for the last day, the lowest temperature was 6.7º but the mean temperature was the same as last year. However gale force winds on many days and huge seas, with fine drizzle on many days and very heavy but brief showers on others, still made it feel cold and gave only 4 days with significant amounts and 6 dry days also made it wetter than last year but still well below the average total. The annual total of both rain and sun kept them well below last year and the long term averages.
Most of the winds came from SW and and a few from NE gave some spectacular high sprays over the breakwater.
The warmer than usual nights even on the few clear night skies, which might have ben expected to drop the air temperature, (Picture below), left 20 days where the temperature never fell below 13º and have brought many shrubs and spring bulbs into flower a long way out of their proper flowering times whilst hedgehogs and a number of birds are also out of their usual winter habits. Reports of rare or infrequent bird sightings are above average for this month..
. 2015 was an unusual year, windy and colder than usual especially in January with a temperature down to 0.4º in the first week. leaving the month with the lowest mean monthly temperature in my records. Otherwise it was both wetter and sunnier and with a higher barometric pressure for most of the first 5 months and temperatures above average, despite which many of the Spring flowers were running up to 2 months late on their first flowering. On the 2nd. August we had the highest temp recorded at my station since 1997 and with none higher in the records since 1955 and this started a spell of unusually warm nights and slightly above average day temperatures which brought many of the 'spring' flowers into bloom again with primroses and veronicas and many "Weeds" and shrubs flowering in November and December. The birds too were thinking it was spring again and pairing up whilst, hedgehogs were still walking around at night well into November. One of the several Mallards which patronise my garden and bring their broods to swim and feed in the spring brought 9 newly hatched ducklings as her 3rd brood of the year into the garden on 4th September by which time the earlier broods were flying well. I fear they don't have much chance of surviving to adulthood and the hedgehogs are too late going into hibernation for their probable survival.
The last 3 months of the year we suffered frequent very windy conditions mostly from SW and up to 60 mph on several days which blew all the leaves and flowers off garden shrubs like Daturas and both all remaining leaves and some branches off deciduous trees and the remaining flowers of a number of shrubs. Daffodils, some Lillies, and few evergreen tree species and hedges which were having a second flowering in December and January 2016. Even some of the sedges were blooming late.......
Breakwater in a storm in December
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