January 2025 Commentary

January 1st was very mild and wet but there were many variations in temperature and precipitation before the month ended.

Even during the first week, there were three very cold days and nights before an Atlantic storm brought mild air, high winds and very heavy rain for the first weekend of the month.

There followed more cold with a good layer of snow on the 8th which lay around for several days. After the snow, there was a spell of ten days with hardly a drop of rain though temperatures remained cold and the days were regularly gloomy and drab.

The last fortnight of January was not quite as cold but there was quite regular rain with huge downpours on the 26th followed by thunder and lightning on the following day.

The temperature average for January was 5.4C which made it almost a degree colder than the average for January over the last ten years while the total precipitation of 189.1mm. (over 7.5) made it a good bit wetter than our average January figure over the last decade.

The saturated flatter land around the village dried out a little after the snow had melted but the rain at the end of the month created more horrendously muddy conditions for walking dogs around the edges of Cerne Abbas.

Signs of snowdrops, especially along the river bank, have been a sign that we are soon due to be moving from winter to spring.

Philip Spray