June 2016 - Low sunshine amounts

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Nicholas Gardner
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Location: Rural riverside valley location near the village of Newton Poppleford and 2 km from the sea.
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June 2016 - Low sunshine amounts

Post by Nicholas Gardner » Fri Jun 24, 2016 6:42 pm

The sunshine for this month has just passed 110 hours. This amount for late June is hugely below the average and makes this June one of the cloudiest since I started recording sunshine in 2006.

To put it into context, below are the sunshine figures for the year so far with the percentage of total available sunlight in brackets:
January = 101 hours (38%)
February = 109 hours (37%)
March = 164 hours (44%)
April = 186 hours (45%)
May = 237 hours (49%)
June = 110 hours (28%)

My sunniest June was 2010 with 316 hours (64%) whilst my cloudiest June was in 2012 with 106 hours (22%). This June is likely to end up the 2nd dullest next to 2012. Last year's June recorded a more 'normal' 257 hours (52%).
Otter Valley Weather
Near Newton Poppleford, Sidmouth - Devon
50:41N 3:17 W; 20 metres AMSL; Station Grade B-BAAA37
http://www.ottervalleyweather.me.uk

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Nicholas Gardner
Posts: 107
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 8:11 pm
Location: Rural riverside valley location near the village of Newton Poppleford and 2 km from the sea.
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Re: June 2016 - Low sunshine amounts

Post by Nicholas Gardner » Wed Jun 29, 2016 6:32 pm

Sunshine levels have continued to be disappointing and today was the 3rd sunless day this month. Sunless days in a summer month are not common here and in some summers there are none at all so 3 in one month is rather a high figure.

Sunshine to date (29th) stands at 136 hours. Not only was it a sunless day, it was also a rather cool day with a maximum temperature of just 17.0°C making it the coldest day maximum since the 25th May (15.6°C).

It seems that this summer got off to a good start but since the 13th has been in a slow decline!

Despite the poor sunshine figures, this month will still end up warmer than my estimated long term average.

Let's hope for something rather drier and sunnier in July.
Otter Valley Weather
Near Newton Poppleford, Sidmouth - Devon
50:41N 3:17 W; 20 metres AMSL; Station Grade B-BAAA37
http://www.ottervalleyweather.me.uk

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Martin Rowley
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Location: West Moors, East Dorset

Re: June 2016 - Low sunshine amounts

Post by Martin Rowley » Fri Jul 01, 2016 9:10 am

June 2016 (SE Dorset):
A notably sunless month: using Hurn data (ex. SYNOPs) the total = 116 hours (Kipp/Zonen), which 'roughly' equates to 140 hr on the older CSR instrument.
These figures represent around 61% of the 'all series' mean [ASM/1969-2015] and places June 2016 as either the 2nd or 3rd dullest such-named month hereabouts, behind the dullest June in that series which was that of 2012 (with 54% ASM).
Perhaps of more interest is the analysis of the figures over the entire series: using an arbitrary cut-off of <200 hr (CSR/CSR equivalent), there were 18 Junes fitting that criterion. Breaking it down by decade, then the 1970s had 5, the 1980s had 6 and the 1990s had 5. Also, there were periods of notable 'clustering' of poor/sunless Junes – e.g., 1971/72, 1977-1981, 1987/88, 1990/91 and 1997/98.
Since 2000, there have only been 3 (out of 17 years) with Junes having <=200 hr of sunshine [2002, 2012 & 2016] . . . and no clustering (yet!) I'm as sure as I can be that the change of instrumentation isn't a factor in this.
The 'best'/sunniest June was that of 2006 with 369 hr.

So, perhaps we've been spoilt in recent years? Junes are notoriously fickle!

Martin.
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset
Lat: 50deg 49.25'N, Long: 01deg 53.05'W
Height (amsl): 17 m (56 feet)
COL category: C1 overall/TRSHEUN=CC-A03-

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