October 2024 Commentary
The temperatures have been relatively mild and haven't varied very much from the average throughout the month while October has been very wet as usual.
Day-time temperatures have generally been in the mid-teens while night-time temperatures have never sunk as low as freezing and it has regularly been no more than chilly.
The first few days and the last few days of the month were fairly dry but in between, there were many days with heavy rain over long periods.
The average temperature for October was 12.6C which is almost exactly the same as the average for the month over the last ten years. The total rainfall figure of 192mm. (nearly 8 inches) is a little above the average for the month over the last decade though the immediate past four Octobers have all produced totals of over 200mm.
The Cerne Abbas flood warden and his team have again done a great job in avoiding too many problems around the village, though the large areas of land under maize this year have been the cause of mud problems during harvest and has resulted in the large amount of silt in the main river and within the other roadside waterways.
Philip Spray