January 2020:
Most notable in January 2020 has been the warm
temperatures and the sixth consecutive month of above average rainfall.
The average temperature of 7.4°C was the warmest since 7.7°C was recorded in
2008. This makes January 2020 the 8th equal warmest (with 1993) since
continuous records began in 1891. It was a similar picture with the maximum
and minimum average temperatures as one might expect: with maximum
temperatures being the equal 7th highest and minimum temperatures being the
8th highest in over 100 years of data for Bristol.
The month also saw the highest pressure this site has observed since records
began in 1994. At 1049 mb this was higher than the previous pressure high of
1044 mb recorded in January 2019.
Individual days also
saw extremes of temperatures. The lowest daily maximum of 6.1°C on the 28th
was the 3rd highest since data started in 1960. The highest daily maximum
temperature of 14.2°C on 14th was the highest since 14.4°C was recorded on
24th January 2016. It was also the 3rd highest since records began in 1938.
The lowest daily mean temperature of 3.0°C recorded this January was the
highest for the month since 3.7°C was recorded 30th January 2014.
Annual 2019: In 129 complete
years of Bristol's average temperatures in 2019 it was the joint 5th warmest
with (with 1999, 2002, 2003 & 2015)
with an average temperature of 11.9°C.
The annual rainfall of 984.6 mm for 2019 was 106% of the 30 year average for
the city of 889.9 mm. The first 7 months, January to July,
had a below average rainfall of 83%, whilst the last 5 months, August to
December, had 139% of the 30 year average.
In 2019 49% of all
the wind directions were from the SW or WSW. Annual average pressure of 1014
mb was lowest since 1012 mb in 2014.
2019 was the sunniest complete year of data, with regard to Wm2, since this
parameter started in 2006. In terms of percentage of maximum sunshine it was
the 5th sunniest at 40.7%, since 2010 when 41.2% was recorded.
The
2019 Annual summary is here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2019annual.htm
For the full monthly summary please go here:
http://www.bristolweather.org/weather2020Jan.htm
The
Meteorological site is situated in an urban housing area approximately one
mile to the south of the Centre of Bristol.
This area is in a district called Totterdown.
Statistical correlations with the Bristol
Meteorological Office site, that was
less than two miles to the North and was
situated on top of a City Centre office block, were generally good with
rainfall and barometric data particularly close.
The site of the station is approximately 34 metres above sea level with the
manual instruments mounted in a Stevenson screen. The screen is sited
centrally in a small concreted garden area. A Snowdon
rain gauge is mounted correctly in the ground but does not have the full open
space required around it. A Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus automatic weather station (AWS) was
added in May 2005 and this is mounted 4 feet above a concrete shelter. The
wind data is gathered automatically from a Davis Vantage Pro2 Plus anemometer which is
sited 3.3 metres (10 feet) above the house top.
Manual observations are still taken at approximately 09:00 hours GMT every
day for rainfall and cloud cover. Rainfall manually recorded in the Snowdon rain gauge is entered for the previous day. The
wind data is constantly logged and automatically reset at 24:00 hours GMT
every day (in the summer BST -1 hour. The Davis rainfall tipping bucket was recalibrated in November 2005 and is now
consistently under 3% under recording (an improvement from installation in
May 2005 when 10% was more
typically the norm).
Since the arrival of the Davis
Vantage Pro2 Plus equipment in May 2005 temperatures, humidity and barometric
pressure are recorded from the new equipment. These figures will be more
accurate and will be taken at exactly 09:00 GMT (in the summer BST -1 hour)
as the data is now logged to a computer.
By default the Davis
equipment records every parameter for the 24 hour period 00:00 to 23:59 BST
or GMT. Data analysis will enable manual data extraction of temperatures and
rainfall to 09:00 GMT (adjusted in the summer). Due to the 0.2 mm (tipping
bucket) measurements of precipitation recorded by the Davis equipment the
Snowdon rain gauge will still be used due to its greater accuracy (see
above).