Three Unwanted Records For September

Looking at the average figure for September 2018 you wouldn't think it was any sort of record breaker but that's not the case from my weather station records. It now holds two records relating only to the month of September and those are the lowest September temperature of 3.1°C (37.6°F) and the highest wind gust speed of 30mph.

September Rainfall 2010-2018

September Average Temperatures 2010-2018

Whilst this September only ranks as the fourth wettest most of the month's rainfall fell on one day. On Thursday 20th September we had 41.6mm (1.64in) of rainfall making it the wettest day I've recorded in any month since 2010.

Rather amazingly we went from that very wet day at the beginning of April through to that record breaking day in September with very little rain as we recorded our driest summer since I started recording our weather.

October hasn't got off to a brilliant start with a cold day on Monday followed by gale force winds through most of Tuesday. The average wind speed for Tuesday was 6.5mph which was higher than we had for all the named storms in September. The only other day this year with a higher average wind speed was the 3rd of January with 8.6mph.

On the plot it's now a case of getting as much tidying up done before any really bad weather sets in.

At least following that very wet September day the ground at the allotment returned to resembling soil rather than concrete and I could make a start at getting some beds dug over for winter. I hardly dare say that we could do with a drop more rain as the ground has once again dried out. I'm planning on leaving these beds uncovered until they get some wet and frosty weather on them to break the soil down. I'll consider replacing the weed control fabric early next year before any weeds begin to germinate.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett