January 2010 weather: No surprise: it was the coldest for 23 years
IT was the coldest January for 23 years, as most of us can verify, with an average temperature of only 0.6C, some 2.8C cooler than the 1971-2000 average.
There have been three colder in the past 50 years, notably 1963 with minus 1.0C, 1979 at minus 0.5C, and most recently 1987 (0.4C), and 1985 was equal to this year.
It was also a relatively dry month for the time of the year with 84.0mms (57 per cent of the norm) with precipitation on 20 days.
Snow or sleet fell on 12 days in the first two weeks totalling 17cms in all and reaching a maximum depth of 11cms on the sixth and seventh.
With rain falling in the latter part of the month, the two wettest days were the 15th (16.2mms) and 21st (16.0mms).
The very cold spell of the first fortnight saw temperatures as low as minus 10.1C on the night of the seventh/eighth and almost as low on the preceding and the following nights (see graph).
Daytime temperatures on the seventh reached only minus 3.2C and there were two other occasions with maximum figures below zero.
There were also frosty nights at the end of the month.
There were some higher temperatures in the third and fourth weeks with a maximum of 7.6C on the 27th, but the warmest night was only 3.8C on the 19th.
This gave an average minimum of minus 1.7C and an mean maximum of 2.9C.
Pressure fluctuated considerably during the month with spells of high pressure around the third (1026.8mbs), again at the start of the second week (1030.3mbs on the ninth), but most prominently on the 26th, reaching 1042.1mbs, before falling to 991.9mbs on the 29th.
There were spells of low pressure also on the 13th (999.5mbs) and 16th (999.5mbs) in particular.
Winds were often easterly in direction (19 days) with north-east winds dominating the pattern from the third to 11th.
Southerly winds were most evident in the third week, but west winds were in short supply.
There was more sunshine than normal (60 hours estimated as against the average of 49) but it was unevenly distributed.
There were seven quite sunny days up to the ninth, some very dull weather in the middle of the month (only about 6.5 hours of sun from the 10th to 27th inclusive), but with a sunny end to the month, especially on the 30th (seven hours).
The average cloud cover at 09.00hrs was 72.2 per cent with 21 overcast or cloudy mornings, although there were cloudless skies on the third and fourth and the seventh and eighth.
Relative humidity averaged 89.7 per cent.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
