November was a wetter and sunnier month than normal, but temperatures were close to average.

Royston did not experience any extremes in the November weather, and no records were broken in the month. The first air frost of the month (and season) did not occur until 30^th, although 8 ground frosts were recorded during the month.

The mean daily maximum temperature in November was 9.9°C, which is precisely on average. The mean night minimum temperature was just 0.1°C below average at 4.9°C. On these figures it was the coldest November since 2010 only. The mean temperature was 2.9°C lower than in November last year.

The highest temperature recorded in the month was 15.1°C on 13^th, this value having been exceeded in November in 27 of the previous 40 years. The lowest temperature experienced in the month was –1.5°C on 30^th. The lowest grass minimum temperature of –6.0°C was also recorded on this date.

The lowest day maximum temperature in November was 3.8° on 30^th, whilst the highest night minimum temperature of the month was 9.9°C on 20^th.

The mean earth temperature at 30 cms depth as measured daily at 0900 GMT was 8.0°C, which is 0.1°C below average. The highest and lowest earth temperature values in the month were 9.5°C and 5.0°C on 1^st and 30^th respectively.

The heavy rainfall events which occurred in some other parts of the country causing widespread flooding all missed Royston, although total rainfall for the month of 71.4 millimetres was 25% above average.

The number of "rain days" (0.2 millimetres or more) in November was 16, with rainfall equalling or exceeding 1.0 millimetre on 13 of these days. The wettest day of the month was 24^th with 13.1 millimetres rainfall. It was the wettest November since 2009 only.

Total rainfall for the January to November period was 738.9 millimetres, which is 134% of the average for this period.

Sunshine was above average in November but in the event it was the sunniest November in Royston since 2009 only. Total sunshine was 89.5 hours, which is 124% of average. The sunniest day of the month was 11^th with sunshine of 7.5 hours. The number of completely sunless days in the month was 6.

As might be expected for an Autumn month November was rather windy at times, but without any severe wind strengths. The mean wind speed over the whole month was 6.7 mph, and the maximum wind gust speed recorded was 46 mph on 25^th.

The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean wind speed was 13.6 mph on 22^nd (followed by 13.5 mph on 25^th), whilst the lowest daily mean wind speed was 1.2 mph on 15^th.

The analysis of wind directions as observed at 0900 GMT daily was NORTH 1 day, NE 1, E 1, SE 3, S 12, SW 5, W 5, NW 2 and CALM 0.

The mean MSL air pressure in November was 1008.3 mB, which is 5.4 mB below average. The highest and lowest air pressure values recorded in the month were 1026.9 mB and 974.6 mB on 13^th/14^th and 1^st respectively.

The mean relative humidity in November was 90.9%. The highest daily (00/00 GMT) mean relative humidity was 97.3% on 27^th; the lowest daily mean relative humidity was 83.3% on 9^th. The absolute lowest relative humidity reading in November was 67% at 1345 GMT on 8^th.

Fog (visibility < 1000metres @ 0900 GMT) was observed on only 1 day (24^th) in November, and on this day visibility at 0900 GMT fell below the 200 metres threshold.

It was the coldest and dullest Autumn since 2010 only, but it was the wettest Autumn since 2002. The mean daily maximum temperature in Autumn was 14.4°C, which is 0.2°C below average. The mean night minimum temperature was 0.7°C below average at 7.3°C. Total rainfall was 184.6 millimetres, which is 106% of average. Sunshine over the 3 Autumn months was 388.6 hours, which is 116% of average.

Met. Observer, Royston (Iceni) Weather Station

5^th December 2012