October 2021 Weather Report

 I have been a bit busy early in November and posted this "holding report" on the FB Group.

" Here is a (graph-free) summary.

1. Rainfall: total 58.8mm (99% of median)
2. Average temperature: 0.26C below long term average mainly due to low maximum.
3. Humdity: Both average 0900 and 1500 readings very close to mean.
4. Wind: Avg daily run of 112 km (a little less than mean); highest gust 43.5kph not really remarkable."

What follows is the much delayed full report.

Rainfall

As noted above we scored 58.8mm, very close to the median fall.  One wet day and a soggy period mid-month.

Well less than last year.

By the end of the month our total year to date was 953.8mm which exceeds the median annual fall of 870.8mm.  A pro-rata estimate of the annual total is 1146 mm.  A chart showing the development of the pro-rata estimate since 10 January shows it levelling out in the recent past.  

Temperatures

The anomaly ended up at -0.26C.  After a warmer than usual start to the month it got cool by midmonth.

The next chart shows how the daily extreme values recorded by BoM near the airfield compare with the historic averages from that site.  Overall slightly cooler maxima more than balanced slightly warmer minima.

The pattern from my WS is broadly similar.

Minimum temperatures

Much cooler than last October (probably reflecting more cloud cover last year) but quite close to the mean value.

The apparent upwards trend is not significant.

Maximum temperatures

The average maximum recorded at my WS was well below 2020 and the mean value.

The time series for average maximum is a long way short of significant. 

Humidity 

The outstanding (IMHO) feature of this element of the weather in October is the closeness of the 0900 and 1500 hrs readings.  The warm patch at the end of the month was clearly due to dry air coming down from the North.

The average value for 0900 was very close to the longer term (OK: 3 year) mean and 2020 values.

For 1500 this year was close to the 3 year mean but a lot below 2020.

Wind

As usual the pattern is chaotic!   The shape of charts of windiness through the month is quite similar whether drawn using maximum daily gust or total daily run.  Note the different scales, with gust (kph) on the left and run (km on the right).

Average daily run is very similar to the value for 2020 and the 3 year average..