Poor Sunshine Levels Dec 2011

[damianslaw]

Just thought I'd start a thread on sunshine levels so far this month. I think so far we have had barely 10 hours of sunshine, probably not even that - every day so far has either been a rain fest, sleet/wet snow fest or just a dull cloud fest.

The outlook doesn't promise much in the way of sunshine neither and if these conditions continue until the months end, I expect much of northern britain to record a very dull month indeed. Yesterday earlier in the week promised a fair bit of sunshine - alas the transient ridge was kicked aside and just deliver one or two short breaks of blue sky.

Recent Decembers have been exceptionally sunny thanks to high pressure, this month so far had reminded of how dull and dark December can be..

Anyone like to comment on the lack of sunshine so far this month. A bit of sun does wonders at this time of year - alas the last 2-3 weeks have been exceptionally dull and with the tempestuous dark conditions certainly my thoughts have been turning to holidays in warmer climes...

Would love a nice high pressure to come on the scene if only to bring some brighter skies.

[Terminal Moraine]

The same here too. The first 10 days of December has produced just over 7 hours of sunshine and about 4.5 of that was on Friday morning. Buxton, a few miles north west of here was under the showers all day on Friday and has recorded just over 2 hours of sunshine so far this month.

As a footnote to the above there hasn't been a single day with fog at any time ( usually low cloud here) so far this month. Coming after a very foggy November, which was in the top ten foggiest months on record here, and taking into account that on average December is the foggiest month of the year, this is very unusual.

Edited December 11, 2011 by Terminal Moraine

[damianslaw]

The same here too. The first 10 days of December has produced just over 7 hours of sunshine and about 4.5 of that was on Friday morning. Buxton, a few miles north west of here was under the showers all day on Friday and has recorded just over 2 hours of sunshine so far this month.

As a footnote to the above there hasn't been a single day with fog at any time ( usually low cloud here) so far this month. Coming after a very foggy November, which was in the top ten foggiest months on record here, and taking into account that on average December is the foggiest month of the year, this is very unusual.

The lack of fog so far could be down to polar air as opposed to tropical maritime air which tends to favour higher dewpoints and more chance of low cloud and fog. However, today is rather foggy on misty on higher ground thanks to a warmer feed of maritime air..

November was very foggy on higher ground due to the persistant tropical maritime air and very high dewpoints - it was an awful month for walking in this respect with very poor visibility.

[Thundery wintry showers]

In stark contrast it's been sunny here at Cleadon so far, probably on a par with December 1999 (which had 80-90 hours of sunshine in this part of the country). The last couple of days have been dull, but most days during the first week were sunny all day with just occasional blustery showers.

I'm surprised that western areas have been so dull but presumably troughs and secondary lows have brought cloudier wet/showery conditions rather than the predominantly bright showery weather that we had in December 1999.

[Terminal Moraine]

The lack of fog so far could be down to polar air as opposed to tropical maritime air which tends to favour higher dewpoints and more chance of low cloud and fog. However, today is rather foggy on misty on higher ground thanks to a warmer feed of maritime air..

November was very foggy on higher ground due to the persistant tropical maritime air and very high dewpoints - it was an awful month for walking in this respect with very poor visibility.

Completely agree with you, although at this time of year we normally get fog in every warm sector and so far in December the low cloud has been limited to ground above 400m which is unusual in itself.

[conor123]

This year in general sunshine wise here has been very poor, the only reason it won't end up to much below average in the end here is because throughout Spring & Summer we would have 4 hours of sunshine from 5-9am and then a bit more after 7pm with cloudy skies generally everyday from 10-6pm and it's been noticeable through November & December thus far that there have been clear nights and cloudy days yet only 2 minor frosts (yesterday morning and Fri 2nd Dec).

[Terminal Moraine]

As a footnote to the above there hasn't been a single day with fog at any time ( usually low cloud here) so far this month. Coming after a very foggy November, which was in the top ten foggiest months on record here, and taking into account that on average December is the foggiest month of the year, this is very unusual.

As if by magic we have fog here above 320m.

[TonyH]

27 hours sunshine so far this month at Coventry, so above average there, also the year is going to be above average currently on 1500 hours.

http://bws.users.netlink.co.uk/

Edited December 11, 2011 by TonyH

[Scorcher]

It's been pretty sunny here, particularly the past week or so- last week was noticeably sunny and there was also a good amount of sunshine yesterday. I don't have any statistics but I'm pretty sure December is above average sunshine-wise in these parts.

[damianslaw]

Thanks for the posts so far. I think the NW as a whole as suffered the most so far this month from limited sunshine. It has been pounded by fronts and troughs one after another with convection and heavy showers inbetween with virtually no respite and thanks to a constant west/nw wind off the sea cloud has been a mainstay accentuated by the high ground.

Not surprised to hear NE England has seen a fair bit of sunshine - the pennines doing their job in breaking up the cloud.

Its been the reverse to a persistant NE wind..

[Thundery wintry showers]

The North East didn't do too badly sunshine wise during the period 24 November to 25 December 2010 despite the high frequency of north-easterly winds. The weather was mostly bright and showery and most of the more organised precipitation occurred overnight, as happened on three successive nights on the 26th/27th, 27th/28th and 28th/29th November. The Met Office sunshine maps suggest that only the Northumberland coastal area around Boulmer failed to exceed average amounts of sunshine. The north-easterly March of 2001 similarly managed to produce above average sunshine, in stark contrast to further south, thanks to a high incidence of bright days with wintry showers.

However these are the exceptions rather than the rule, and most easterly and north-easterly dominated winter months fall short of average sunshine in the Tyne and Wear/Durham area.

I think a similar rule of thumb seems to hold for westerly-dominated months in the west- most end up considerably duller than average, but there are occasional ones where sunshine totals, even in the west, come out near or above average. Some examples off the top of my head: January 1984, February 1988, February 1989, January & December 1994, January & December 1999, and February 2000.

[ZONE 51]

Not seen many blue skies for many weeks nov/dec at least, and lack of frost, would indicate partly why there has not been many blue skies(at least to start with) as the right high pressure or anticyclone not being in place, usually we can get frosts and sunny days, but its mostly been cloud breaks and night frosts as temperatures fall low enough for frost.

Edited December 12, 2011 by ElectricSnowStorm

[reef]

Its been pretty sunny in this area so far with 28.7 hours at Leconfield for the first 11 days. We're usually around 10% higher on average here and today is looking pretty sunny, so we'll be well on the way to 40 hours by tomorrow.

There still some way to 2009's total of 82 hours but if this westerly regime continues its quite possible to hit that, especially if we remain in polar maritime air. Beating November's 52 hours looks pretty certain though.

[Terminal Moraine]

The North East didn't do too badly sunshine wise during the period 24 November to 25 December 2010 despite the high frequency of north-easterly winds. The weather was mostly bright and showery and most of the more organised precipitation occurred overnight, as happened on three successive nights on the 26th/27th, 27th/28th and 28th/29th November. The Met Office sunshine maps suggest that only the Northumberland coastal area around Boulmer failed to exceed average amounts of sunshine. The north-easterly March of 2001 similarly managed to produce above average sunshine, in stark contrast to further south, thanks to a high incidence of bright days with wintry showers.

However these are the exceptions rather than the rule, and most easterly and north-easterly dominated winter months fall short of average sunshine in the Tyne and Wear/Durham area.

I think a similar rule of thumb seems to hold for westerly-dominated months in the west- most end up considerably duller than average, but there are occasional ones where sunshine totals, even in the west, come out near or above average. Some examples off the top of my head: January 1984, February 1988, February 1989, January & December 1994, January & December 1999, and February 2000.

January 1984 was a classic example here. 199.7 mm of rain and 71.3 hrs of sunshine, the second sunniest Jan' on record and the 4th wettest.

[Thundery wintry showers]

According to Climate-uk, sunshine totals for England and Wales as a whole have been almost 50% above average for the 1st-12th December:

http://www.climate-uk.com

It shows how even in generally sunny (or cloudy) months there can be notable regional exceptions.

[reef]

This month is turning out to be very sunny indeed here. Today is the third consecutive clear day in a row and tomorrow looks to be the same going on the forecast. These polar maritime westerly or north-westerly bursts just leave it dry and sunny here.

We're on around 42 hours so far to the end of yesterday. Its quite possible today and tomorrow might add another 10+ hours to that. That would take us above the 1971-2000 average of 47 hours with less than half the month gone. Pretty remarkable.

[Terminal Moraine]

A few sunny mornings since I last posted in this thread have taken the total here to just over 25.5hrs which is slightly above average at this stage in the month.

Contrast this with the Brierlow Bar station just outside Buxton, and only 18 miles to the north west of here, which has recorded just over 7 hours so far this month. On each of the sunny mornings they had persistent cloud and showers which didn't reach here until afternoon.

[Aaron]

There's been plenty of sunshine in recent days here

[reef]

Around 48 hours to the 15th here now, which is already above the 1971-2000 December average of 47 hours.

[damianslaw]

Thought it apt to resurrect this thread given the gloomy skies we have endured since the 19th - barely seen a glimmer of sunhine in the last 9 days. I suspect for NW parts this December will rank as quite a dull one, had it not been for the sunny period between 15-18th then a very dull one at that.

Would be interested to see how others have done in recetn days. The SE and E has seen a fair bit of sun recently thanks to the persistant southwesterlies.

It has been a very gloomy christmas over the Lake District - the higher tops have barely been visible in view since the 18th- uninspiring for anyone out fell walking.

[reef]

You can definitely tell it has been a westerly dominated month here. We are on around 68 hours so far, which is about 145% of what would be expected in a normal December (see above). Rainfall is only 44% aswell.

145% sunshine, 44% rainfall and 1.1C above average, just 2 frosts and no sleet/snow falling or lying snow at 0900. A pretty good month if you dont like cold or dull, wet weather!

[J10]

We had a few hours of sunshine this afternoon, the first time for a week, not liking these SW flows.

According to Climate-uk, sunshine totals for England and Wales as a whole have been almost 50% above average for the 1st-12th December:

http://www.climate-uk.com

It shows how even in generally sunny (or cloudy) months there can be notable regional exceptions.

according to that below average temps, ( to the 20th), wetter and duller than average, this part will remain true to the end of the month. .

No lying snow here (in 2011 at all), but 2 days snow falling in Dec.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/anomacts/2010/12/2010_12_Sunshine_Anomaly_1971-2000.gif <- This Sunshine map will be largely reversed for this December

[damianslaw]

We had a few hours of sunshine this afternoon, the first time for a week, not liking these SW flows.

Yes SW flows at anytime of year bring limited sunshine to much of SW England, Wales, NW England, NW/W/SW Scotland and N Ireland unless they are associated with polar maritime air (rare it has to be said) - this month being no exception. Have to say the synoptics we have endured since 19th Dec are nearly but not quite my least favourite - the least being the infamous bartlett high.

[AderynCoch]

It's been surprisingly bright here these last few days, and it's clear out now.

That said, I don't think the sunshine total for December on the whole has been that impressive.

[Aaron]

around 45 hours of sunshine here this December, so not really sunny, but not really cloudy either.. sunshine has occurred in around 17 days however

Edited December 29, 2011 by Aaron