Warmer December

DECEMBER was a dull, cloudy month with only about 20 hours of sunshine according to Reading University. The only compensation is that temperatures were well above the average for the month.

Denis Gilbert, from Shiplake, who supplies my monthly statistics, says there were two frosts — the average is 11 — and the mean temperature for the month was 6.8C, two degrees above what would be expected. The highest and lowest temperatures recorded were 14.2C and -1.7C respectively. It was relatively dry for a winter month with a mere 40mm of rain, the average being 68mm for December.

The total rainfall for the year was 842mm — the 30 year average is 670mm.