By Philip Eden

In complete contrast to November last year, high pressure dominated Britain's weather for much of the month although a disturbed southwesterly airflow took over during the last five days.

The Central England Temperature for November 2001 was 7.6C which is 0.7 degC above the mean for the standard reference period 1971-2000. In the last 100 years there were 19 warmer Novembers, while 80 were colder (one had the same mean temperature); in recent years 1999, 1997, 1995 and 1994 were all warmer. There were few individual temperatures of note. The warmest days were at the beginning of the month with 17C at Torquay on 1st, although 16C was approached locally on the 24th and 30th. Coldest days were the 8th, 9th and 22nd when the temperature barely exceeded the freezing point at a few sites in Scotland. The month's lowest temperature of minus 6C was recorded early on the 23rd at Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire.

Rainfall, averaged over England and Wales, was 55mm which is just 58% of the average for the standard reference period 1971-2000. It was the driest November since 1988, and there were in all only 13 drier Novembers during the 20th century. In the main population centres in Scotland the provisional monthly total for November 2001 was 52mm which is 63% of the normal, while the Northern Ireland total of 67mm amounted to 70% of the long-term average there. It was exceptionally dry along parts of the south coast with just 11mm at Torquay, 17mm at Weymouth and 18mm at Portsmouth, and even the month's highest total of 134mm at Lerwick in Shetland was 3% below the local average. Snow fell occasionally in northern Scotland, especially around the 7th-9th and the 22nd, and Aviemore reported 18cm (7 inches) of snow on the ground overnight 9th/10th. Snow showers were observed as far south as Kent early on the 9th.

Sunshine over England and Wales totalled 70 hours, about 7% above the long-term average for November. The equivalent figure for Scotland's population centres was 51 hours (14% below), and for Northern Ireland 41 hours (31% below). Monthly aggregates ranged from a mere 20 hours at Tiree in the Inner Hebrides to 124 hours at St Helier on Jersey and 118 hours at Torquay.