December 2011 Summary

In Brief:
December 2011 was a wet month with very few completely dry days. Daytime temperatures were close to average but nights were remarkably mild with no air frost and very few ground frosts.

Temperature: Minimum:
Night-time temperatures ranged from 3.0 C on the night of the 9th/10th to 12.2 C on that of the 30th/31st, which was the warmest December night at this location since 2003. It was also the first December since at least 2002 where the temperature had not fallen below 3 degs C at all.
The average night-time temperature for December 2011 was 7.52 degs C, the highest ever at this location.*
The temperature only fell below 5 degs C on 4 nights, which is the fewest number of times this has happened in December.*

Temperature: Maximum:
Daytime temperatures ranged from 7.5 degs C on the 14th to 13.6 degs C on the 31st, giving an average of 10.97 degs C. 13.6 is the equal lowest December maximum at this location.*

Rainfall:
188 mm of rain fell during December 2011, making it the wettest December of the last four, and the third wettest of any month since at least April 2008. November 2009 [223.9] was wettest, and July 2009 [216.8] 2nd.
November 2011 saw 76.3 mm and December 2010 35.3.
The wettest day itself was the 12th, with 28.7 mm, and there were only 2 completely dry days [24-hr periods (2200-2200)], these being the 22nd and 27th. This is the fewest number of dry days in any month since April 2008, equalled only by November 2009.
The longest and driest spell in December 2011 was from the 24th to the 29th, with 'only' 3.6 mm of rain falling in that time.

*Since at least 2002.