WHATEVER the weather may offer between now and Christmas, 2017 will go down in the records as a most interesting year, partly thanks to this last month, which was an unusually quiet one.

The first two days of October were mild and damp, with a light west wind. This then veered to the north, the next four days being cooler with occasional light showers, but offering plenty of sunshine. October 6 was, in fact, our sunniest day since the August bank holiday, although it was more than ten Celsius degrees cooler.

The second week was characterised by a generally light flow of air from the south-west, so temperatures recovered to above average for the time of year, especially at night. The month’s highest reading of 20.1C (70F) in Wellington occurred on October 13, the following night having an unseasonably high minimum of 15.0C (59F). By mid-month, the rainfall total had amounted to only 4mm (0.16in), although there had been detectable precipitation on seven days.

No doubt the most interesting weather phenomenon occurred on October 16. It was puzzling to be greeted first thing by overcast skies with a distinctly yellow-brown tint, and some street lamps remaining lit. When the sun finally emerged in late morning, it was red – as many photographs were to testify in the next day’s papers. The skies reverted to a more normal shade of blue for the afternoon, still very warm despite the gusty breeze. The cause of this, ex-hurricane Ophelia, unusually approaching Britain from the south, bringing Saharan dust and smoke from forest fires in Portugal.

Much was made of the fact that this coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Great Storm of October 1987. Interesting to note that, then, Michael Fish could confidently assure us that a hurricane was not on its way. These days, perhaps we cannot be so certain.

Following this, we had the month’s only unsettled spell, but it was quite brief and not wet by October standards. While night-time temperatures remained on the mild side, days were cooler, and some of them unpleasant with spells of rain or drizzle, and gusty winds. There was a westerly gale for a time late on October 20, the following day being cool with squally showers after a bright start.

For the last third of the month, high pressure controlled our weather, at first giving us a warm breeze from the south. On both October 23 and 24, the temperature in Wellington exceeded 18C (64F), high for so late in the year. There was another sequence of very mild nights, before a light airflow from the north led to a marked cooling-off from October 27, itself a lovely sunny day. October 30 began with the first significant ‘windscreen frost’ of the season, and in spite of almost unbroken sunshine, temperatures peaked at just 11.2C (52.2F).

The month’s total rainfall of 39mm (1.5in) in Wellington made it the third driest October in the past 40 years. With a mean temperature of 13.0C (55.4F) it edged ahead of October 2001 as our warmest on record, so that, for 2017, March, May, June and October are all at or near the top of the all-time rankings for warmth. And Nigel Lawson remains a climate change denier…

SIMON RATSEY

(WWN weather correspondent)