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The mins measured by Nick in the Otter Valley Devon are quite a bit higher than mine here in Wembury.

Highest min so far this December is 11.8C on the 3rd.
This equals my highest min from December 2006.

On 13th Dec. my min was 9.4C.
While Nick had 13.1C
Almost 4 deg.C cooler here in Wembury , SW Devon.

Len
Wembury, SW Devon coast.
83 m asl

My highest minimum temperature so far for December is 11.3c on day 6, that been the mildest day with a maximum of 13.8c.

So far after 14 days:-

MEAN MIN: 5.6c

MEAN MAX: 10.7c

MEAN: 8.2c

ANOMALY: +3.7c.

Len Wood wrote:The mins measured by Nick in the Otter Valley Devon are quite a bit higher than mine here in Wembury.
On 13th Dec. my min was 9.4C.
While Nick had 13.1C
Almost 4 deg.C cooler here in Wembury , SW Devon.

Len you must have misread my post, on the 13th I recorded a minimum of 9.1°C. It was on the 3rd that I recorded a minimum of 13.1°C.

My monthly mean temperature is still going up due to a run of even warmer nights lately.

December 1st - 17th:
Mean minimum = 10.0°C
Mean maximum = 13.3°C
Mean = 11.7°C.

After a bright, 'spring-like' morning with some sunshine it clouded over with light and patchy rain this afternoon. All of 2.8 mm fell bringing the monthly total to a 'below average' of 36 mm.

It seems strange to have to have the bedroom windows wide open otherwise it is too warm to sleep. And if the light is on the moths fly-in like they do in late-summer! Quite a remarkable December.

Yes, I stand corrected Nick.

Your min on 3rd, 13.1C
Mine 11.8C.
So just 1.3 deg.C cooler here.

Your mins seem consistently higher than mine atm.

Elevation and shelter might have something to do with it.

Normally Len, my autumn/winter minimums are lower than yours due to my slightly further inland, low valley location.

Maybe the persistent wind and cloud cover this month has generally prevented radiative cooling and also a persistent breeze on most nights has been responsible. I also note that whilst I can often record very low comparative minimum temperatures (given calm, clear nights), I can also record some of the warmest for here in Devon. Overall though my minimums are generally lower but my maximums are higher than yours with the mean temperature quite similar.

Still mild up here too. I was out observing with the scope last night in just a fleece and slippers on.
Out for around four hours and only felt chilly. Very dewy though, so I did get damp.

11.8c currently, with a screen maximum of 12.c.

Temperature-wise in Reading the last three months have been
remarkably similar - see http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/weatherdat ... aries.html

Across the UK, the anomalies wrt. 1981-2010 are equally remarkable - with very little frost:
http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~brugge/anomt.jpg
and
http://www.met.reading.ac.uk/~brugge/lotemp.jpg


Roger

The "Telegraph" today is already speculating on the "warmest December for 350 years" (presumably referring to the CET estimated record going back to c1650). Probably a bit early for that, but it may well be the case, given that the charts don't show any significant cold weather for the next 10 days.
All the more remarkable as 5 years ago we had the coldest December in the instrumental record (counted from 1910) and coldest estimated CET since 1890. The CET in December 2010 was -0.7C; I would guess it is heading this month for something like 9C, so nearly 10C higher than Dec 2010.

Greg Gruner wrote:The "Telegraph" today is already speculating on the "warmest December for 350 years" (presumably referring to the CET estimated record going back to c1650). Probably a bit early for that, but it may well be the case, given that the charts don't show any significant cold weather for the next 10 days.

In case anyone doesn't know how to keep tabs on the latest (provisional) CET (Hadley), the link is here . . .

http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadcet/cet_info_mean.html

The December record (as listed on that site) is 8.1degC, in both 1974 and 1934.

Martin.

Thanks for that, Martin. With the record December CET being 8.1C, and the provisional for 2015 (1-21) of 9.9C, and given the forecast charts, I think the record will be exceeded by a considerable margin.