Only 5.5mm rainfall, so a dry week at last, the first this month; still not as warm as we would like though.

The weather is still unsettled with a lot of cloud about and the wind keeps changing direction. Unlike 2006, when we had a long spell of 20 days of fine weather which allowed the temperature to really build up giving hot days and warm nights.

I haven't noticed a lot of barbecues so far this year, you need need a really sheltered garden to sit out in the evening this summer!

What a wet week for July: 66mm with some rain on 6 days out of 7. We had to wait until Saturday for a dry day, and even then the wind was quite chilly by late afternoon and into the evening.

Well, July hasn't started too well has it? 27.5mm of rain and quite cool at times, I hope we aren't going to get a repeat of July 2007 when we had 218.5 mm, with rain on 25 days.

The average for July is 94mm with a low of 11mm in 1999 and a high of 218mm last year. This is also the month when we are likely to have very heavy rain.

Checking back I see we usually have well over 25mm on at least a couple of days, and this is also the month when flooding has been a problem in previous years, but it's not all doom and gloom. It can also be the hottest month, and in most years there has been a dry spell of more than a week, with sometimes up to 20 days without rain.

Only two wet days - Thursday and Friday - giving 18mm of rain in all - so not very much.

Otherwise the weather much as before with warm sunny days, usually cloud building in the afternoon and then it's gone again with another bright sunny morning the next day.

19mm of rain, spread over 4 days this week. So again, not a lot and between the rain showers, warm and sunny, but a very stiff breeze at times. It's certainly been a dry June so far.

10mm of rain on Wednesday night/Thursday morning, and having had only 7mm last week, it's now getting dry, especially for bedding and vegetables. The allotments are very dry , so it's out with the watering cans I'm afraid.

There has been a lot of cloud about in the latter part of the week, but when the forecast is scattered showers, we always seem to miss them, and what we need now is several hours of steady rain.

June

The average rainfall for June over the last 10 years is 78mm, with a low of 35mm in 2001 and a high of 163mm in '98 when it rained on 17 days, but June last year was one of our worst. Dry and sunny for the first 12 days, then it rained on every day until 6th July, so hopefully, no repeat this year!

1st - 7th June

Well, a good start, 7mm of rain on Sunday, then warm and dry for the rest of the week. Temperatures climbing to the mid 20's at times, especially in the morning .

The cloud tending to bubble up a bit in the afternoon, but clearing again in the evening. So I hope everyone is making the most of it.

A wet week with 93mm of rain falling on 6 days, which gives a total for May of 120.5 mm , well above average. Although we only had rain on 13 days, most of it was at the end of the month, with some warm dry weather earlier and plenty of sunshine.

13mm of rain, mainly on Saturday night/Sunday morning, otherwise a dry week for us.

Fairly warm and pleasant, but still a stiff breeze from an easterly direction, so not so warm when you are in the shade. We managed lunch outside a couple of times though, so not too bad!

Only 5mm of rain this week, much more cloudy and the threat of rain especially towards the weekend. Other parts of the area had quite substantial showers but not us.

Also much cooler than last week when temperatures reached the mid 20'sºC. This week it struggled to get into the mid teens and sometimes it was below 10ºC making it feel quite chilly.

A dry warm week, some rain on Monday and a slight shower mid week - 27.5mm in all.

Otherwise a hot and sunny week with some of the highest temperatures for quite a while. I've had to water some seedlings as the top couple of inches is now very dry, but it's still quite damp lower down, so no need to worry about more mature plants.

29.5mm rain on the last 4 days of April. May has started well with higher temperatures and some sunshine. I recorded 18ºC on Saturday - what a change, I hope it continues.

April

79.5mm rain, slightly below average, but we also had snow,hail, thunder and more overnight frosts than we've had before - mainly caused by the wind moving round to the North, instead of our usual mild damp westerly. Hopefuly things will now improve, weatherwise at least.

May

Average rainfall 88mm with a high of 156.5 in 2006 when it rained for 18 days, 13 consecutively, and a low of 36mm in 2001 on 8 days.

We should see some settled, warm weather this month, although it can still get cool at night. Hopefully without frost, but the temperature could still dip before sunrise. I don't usually put out tender plants without some protection before the last week, particularly on the allotment where the site is more exposed and doesn't benefit from the fences and hedges of our more sheltered gardens.

A gradual change this week, as the weather improved towards the weekend. Starting with a cold and damp Monday and finishing with a warm sunny Saturday afternoon. Only 20mm of rain, spread across 5 days, so a real improvement after our recent cold weather.

Here are the figures for winter rain, i.e. October through to March, which is what fills the reservoirs and tops up the ground water to see us through the summer. 705.5mm this time, the 6th wettest in the last 16 years. As last summer was fairly wet anyway (April was the only really dry month) there shouldn't be a shortage of water in this area.

This week very much the same as the last .. until Thursday. Then, more cloud cover and some light drizzle. On Saturday we had rather a cold wet day taking the week's total rainfall to 6mm. However, no night frosts for the last 3 days, so there was some improvement. The wind is still coming from the east though !

Another cold week, ending in a wet weekend with 19mm of rain. I've kept a record of night time temperatures this week as we have had so much frost.

Monday: -3.7ºC Tuesday: -2.6ºC Wednesday: -3.4ºC Thursday: -2.5ºC Friday: -1.2ºC

We have also had snow, thunder and hail, but when the sun did shine it felt quite pleasant, although you did need to keep a coat handy!

Not a bad week, very little rain, only 5mm and some lovely weather in the middle of the week. getting much colder towards the weekend. The wind from the north is giving us much lower temperatures than we usually have at this time of the year, so once again nice in the sun but with a bitterly cold wind.

March

Rainfall above average with 154mm - the wettest march for at least 18 years, also a very cold month with winds from the north and east keeping temperatures below normal a lot of the time.

After the early spurt in the garden in January with the snowdrops and early narcissus, everything seems to have stopped. I've noticed that herbaceous plants haven't made much growth and on the allotments there doesn't seem to be a lot growing yet.

April rainfall average is 91mm with a high of 183mm in 2000 and a low of 23mm in 2007. We had snow in the middle of April in 1999 and there could still be the odd frost, especially just before sunrise when the temperature falls to its lowest. Hopefully we will lose this cold northerly air stream soon which would allow things to warm up.

Rain in April is usually showers (sometimes quite heavy) rather than prolonged rain. The exception being 2000 when it rained for nearly 3 weeks. Temperatures very variable this month ranging from frost to 20ºC plus, sometimes on consecutive days. Certainly much too early to put out half hardy plants without protection.

The beginning of the week was very much as before, but on Wednesday, the wind went round to the west and the afternoon was quite spring like. A fine day on Thursday, staying nice until quite late in the day. Big change on Friday, back came winter with rain and high winds. Saturday was even worse, bitterly cold and 11mm of rain. 23mm of rain all week.

Into April next week, so we all hope for some better weather

The week started with frost -1.9ºC early Sunday morning and a very cold wind from the north east, which we kept for most of the week. This made it very unpleasant to do any work outside - and not much fun for those planning an Easter break.

Typically, a very cold March has coincided with an exeptionally early Easter, but we did have only 6mm of rain.

Well, what a week - we started with gales and ended with floods. 97mm of rain in total - rain every day, and culminating with 51mm on Saturday.

Very high winds on Monday, which do not seem to have caused a lot of damage, and we did have less rain than other villages round us. I thought the gales on Tuesday night were worse, they seemed more gusty, but again , only the odd tile or dead tree ( unless you've heard otherwise); even the high tides proved to be less damaging locally than expected.

But as I sit here writing this report on Sunday morning, it is still raining, and the roads, river and fields are flooded. I don't think there's much chance of gardening for the next few days.

We've had rain on 3 days, but only 15.5mm, mostly on Saturday.

A cold blustery wind for most of the week, making it very chilly, unless you managed to find some sunshine. Frost on Tuesday, down to -3.6ºC, and down to freezing a couple of other mornings as well, usually just as its getting light.

25mm of rain on only 5 days, but plenty of frost right through the middle of the month and several nights in the last week down to 1º or 2ºC.

Very strong winds during the week, a gust on Friday night snapped the pole to my wind sock, the first time this has happened for a few years. Once again we missed the worst, further north suffered considerabl y more damage.

The average rainfall for March is 75.5mm, with a low of 25mm in '97 and a high of 138.5mm in 2001. So again not a very wet month on the whole, but don't be too relaxed and think winter is over. In 2006 we had snow on the 12th, and regularly have frost, especially following a clear still day. So if you're a gardener, keep some fleece or light curtains handy to pop over early growth when frost threatens.

A dry week, cold to start with but getting warmer by the weekend. The wind is now coming from the west again, hence the clouds but higher temperatures, some slight dampness in the air on saturday, but not enough to measure.

It's now 18 days since we had any rain, so don't forget tubs and pots, particularly evergreens. Long dry spells in February are quite usual for us and its often when we have our coldest weather - discounting last year which was the wettest for many years.

Dry but cold with night frosts, and a very cold wind from the East. Lovely clear blue skies and bright sunshine by day. The coldest night was Saturday when it reached
-5.4ºC.

28.5mm of rain - on only 3 days. Later in the week it was cooler and dryer with the wind swinging round to the East. Thursday was very gloomy with the cold, plus very low cloud.

7mm of rain this week - on Tuesday and Thursday. Quite a lot of cloud, and very strong winds. A slight sprinkling of snow on Saturday, but if you blinked you would have missed it! Certainly not measureable, unlike others who suffered terrible conditions with 90 mile an hour winds and blizzards, one advantage of living in the south west we do usually escape the worst of the weather.

Total rainfall for January was 173mm, well above the average, but not the highest. We had rain on 20 days, 18 days consecutively

February average rainfall is 84mm with a high of 155.5mm in 2007 and a low of 11mm in '98. In 2007 we had the wettest February for 18 years, so I hope we don't get a repeat performance this year.

Only 11.5mm of rain on Monday and Tuesday, then dry for the rest of the week. A welcome change, although there was a cold wind towards the weekend especially on Saturday.

Bright at times, but still a lot of cloud about.

It is becoming increasingly difficult to say anything positive about the weather. After our 16th consecutive wet day, and when it's not actually raining - it looks as if it's just about to at any minute. We've had 60mm this week, the wettest day was Monday with 15mm.

79mm of rain this week, falling on every day, culminating with 49mm on Friday which caused flooding again. This seems to be the most we have had in a 24 hour period, certainly in the last 18 years. Although there have been readings in the mid 40's several times.

The flooding was partly caused by the fact that it had been raining all week, so the ground was sodden . We are also fairly close to sea level so there wasn't anywhere for the water to go. If you live half way up a mountain, prolonged rainfall is no problem. Capel Curig in North Wales regularly has over 100mm in 24 hours without any flooding at all.

But I do feel that the current practice of culverting any watercourse or drainage ditch is wrong, and is a major contributory factor to the problem, certainly in Wrington.

Only 5mm of rain this week. Friday and Saturday were both wet days, but a rather gloomy week overall, with a lot of cloud. So in spite of being past the shortest day it isn't any lighter yet.

January
108mm is the average rainfall for the month - with a low of 38mm in 2000, and a high of 186.5 in 1999. Last year we had frost from the 21st of January into the middle of February, so we live in hope of it getting colder and drier!

December

Total rainfall 153.5mm on 15 days, above the average this month. We started the month with 9 wet days followed by a dry cold spell of 2 weeks ending with a wet period again.

2007

Total rainfall 1,303mm. The wettest month was July with 218mm and we had a dry April with only 23mm. A total of 176 wet days altogether. Snow fell on the 8th of February, but by the time the children had come home from school, it had disappeared.

A long spell of cold with hard frosts in late January/early February and another spell in December. In spite of the early frosts we had the wettest February for at least 18 years.

Lovely dry warm weather in April and early May and a nice Autumn, but the middle of sunner very wet with flooding in many areas.

No damaging winds this year, a bit gusty at times and more wind from the North and East than we used to get.

So altogether, although not a very good year, it could have been worse. Hopefully 2008 will be better - more rain in April and less in July and August would suit me.

The total rainfall for 2006 was 1073mm which is about average for our area.
The wettest month was May, and the driest was April. It rained on 168 days which is slightly more than usual. October and November tied for the most wet days, with 21 each, and July had the least with 7.

December