Tag Archives: Wanstead Park

A chilly and dry autumn on the way?

August 20, 2022 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Anomalies of the past two months throw up some interesting singularities as we head into late summer and autumn – with a hint that we could be heading for a much colder than normal December.

Using stats from the past 60 days revealed the following years. Those most similar to the current ENSO situation are highlighted in bold.

The most negative month on average will be December.

In terms of rainfall those hoping for a deluge look likely to be disappointed, at least in the south-east, with a continuation of synoptic conditions that favour drier than average weather.

The best chance for a wetter than average month appears to be September though, given recent synoptics, this is likely more a result of trough disruption than any sustained period of Atlantic-driven fronts.

London weather, UK climatology, Weather

The Christmas storm singularity

December 18, 2021 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

One of the best articles written regarding weather forecasting is Philip Eden’s ‘Does the Weather Have a Memory?’

The crux of the article is that certain weather types can repeat at the same time of year with one having a 100 per cent probability!

The Christmas storm singularity occurs in 84 per cent of years.

While 84 per cent certainly doesn’t mean ‘nailed on’, in the current set up of models being evenly spread between settled and stormy it can be safely guessed at this range that there will be unsettled weather around on the 25th. Whether it will affect the whole country remains uncertain.

The last big snorter of a Christmas storm I can remember in London was 2013. The entry for the 23rd into the 24th reads.

“Cloudy and breezy start grew steadily duller with rain just before noon. Rain grew heavier with some really strong gusts into evening culminating at 2am. Cloud at one point was 10kms thick. Three deaths related to weather.”

There was chaos nationwide with flooding and power cuts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25512391

The average wind run for this station shows the singularity as well as the mid December settled spell we are now seeing.

London weather, Rainfall, singularities, UK rainfall, Wanstead Park history, weather pattern

Four June washouts in london

June 23, 2021 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Compiling a list of sunless, rainy days revealed some interesting spells of wet weather – the most miserable runs of June days in the capital since 1959.

First up was a three-day spell starting on June 25, 1974. Some 34.3mm of rain was recorded.

Next was a three-day spell starting on June 23, 1991. Some 26.3mm of rain was recorded.

Another three-day spell started on June 25, 1997. Some 36.2mm of rain was recorded.

Finally, and most recently, a two-day spell this month that began on June 17th. Some 28mm of rain was recorded.

The above spells all happened around the date of the ‘June monsoon’ singularity which has a probability of 77 per cent. Though the fact that these occurred 47 years, 30 years and 24 years ago shows that these extreme cases happen a lot less than three years in every four the singularity would suggest.

Comparing the current Northern Hemisphere pattern with 1974 suggests that while there’s just as much heat around at 850mb as there was 47 years ago, including an extreme heatwave over some Nordic countries, the air above Greenland appears colder.

Rainfall, UK climatology, UK rainfall, Weather, weather pattern

Sunless days and washouts

June 21, 2021 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

The weather of late has been in stark contrast to the mostly dry, sunny (if a bit chilly) spring many enjoyed. Indeed the first half of June saw more of the same and, locally, was the warmest start to the first meteorological summer month since at least 1959.

My memory of summers years ago was that it was often hot and sunny but I also remember countless days of staring out the window for hours waiting for relentless rain to let up.

Looking back at sunshine stats to 1959 there has been over 4,400 days where no sun was recorded, roughly a one in five chance of a totally cloudy day.

Considering the months where the absence of sun is most noticed, May to October inclusive, the probability decreases to just under one in ten.

To decant these to ‘washout days’ I’ve only included those sunless days that were also ‘wet days’ where 1mm or more of rain was recorded. The probability further decreases to just under one in twenty.

All very interesting but were there more washout days decades ago or is the memory playing tricks?

Looking overall shows an increase since 2013. Out of all the months the most notable change has been August.

London weather, Monthly Review, monthly summary, Wanstead Park history, Weather

Spring in Wanstead Park

June 6, 2021 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Spring in this neck of the woods was really mixed.

A chilly start to March became fairly benign before ending with the warmest March day locally since at least 1959.

April then turned much colder and drier; just 2.4mm of rain fell during the month – the driest April since 2007 and fourth driest in a local rainfall series back to 1797! Sunshine was abundant with over 200 hours. But clear skies at that time of year, with a polar continental airmass, often means air frost. And the ten recorded overnight was far higher than normal.

May saw things warm up slightly but the month still finished a degree colder than average. Some 80mm of rain fell which is over one and a half times what we’d normally expect. The wettest May since 2007 – the month playing catch up on the total absence of April showers that bring the spring flowers! It was a dull month with only 126 hours of sunshine, 69 per cent of average – the dullest since 1990 was third dullest back to 1881.

In terms of flora and fauna the colder weather played havoc with the trees, bud burst coming much later than recent years. As I write this on June 6th some of the later budders like false acacia have only just come into full leaf. The birds, as they normally do, just seem to get on with it raising their young. I’m not sure what the food supply has been like but judging by the amount of healthy juvenile fledglings I’ve seen I would guess that it has been a good season so far?

Here’s the stats.
March 8C (+0.3) 30.9mm (76%) 90.9 hours (84%)24.1C on 30th (a record that had stood since 1965)
April 7.2C (-2.6) 2.4mm (5.5%) 202.6 hours (127%)
10 air frosts in April, much higher than normal
May 12.1 (-1) 80mm (156%) 125.6hours (69%)
Spring 2021: Mean : 9.1C (1.1C below average, coldest since 2013, 111th coldest) Rain : 113mm (84% of average, wettest since 2018, 150th wettest ) Sun : 425.4 hrs (94% of average, dullest for three years. 51st dullest) The average masked extremes.

London weather, Wanstead Park history, Weather, Weather in 1810

Days in Wanstead Park, 200 years apart

February 1, 2019 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

During a miserably cold and wet stroll around the golf course in Wanstead Park I happened upon the remains of Wanstead House – basically a deep excavation where the basement and kitchens once were.

As a freezing cold mixture of rain, sleet and snow fell, gradually thawing the remnants of last night’s snow, I wondered what the weather was like when this magnificent building last stood. Luke Howard’s entry in The Climate of London revealed that the weather on this day 200 years ago was remarkably similar.

Wanstead House around 1819 just before its destruction

February 1st 2019

As I stood and tried to imagine what the house must have looked like it occurred to me that 200 years is a mere blip in time in the history of the Earth. People come and go, buildings rise and fall but the weather goes on and on.

* There’s a fascinating extract on Wanstead from James Dugdale’s The New
British Traveller (1819) that you can find here.

** This video clip shows the site where Wanstead House once stood.

London weather, UK snowfall, Weather, weather pattern, Winter forecast

Winter proper to arrive mid January

January 3, 2019 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Weather models are continuing to struggle in the aftermath of the stratospheric sudden warming on January 1st. The GFS and ECMWF have flip-flopped: on one run decent northern blocking extends southward only for the dreaded European high to appear on the next.

Using a combination of QBO and ENSO data featured in my winter forecast and statistics from previous SSWs (including 2013 and 2018) achieved the following results shown in this graphic.

Although some days in the next week or so will be cold it is not until the 14th that conditions start to bite, the start of a week-long cold spell that will probably be more notable for cold than snowfall.

The rapid recovery in temperature would suggest that the Azores / European high making a return. With the MJO moving back and forth between phase 7 and 8, and looking at the behaviour of previous cold spells, this would make sense.

As for February, unless there are further SSWs to disrupt the polar vortex, and depending on its recovery, it is unlikely we will see a repeat of the winter of 1984/85 that I hinted at last month. The graphic below, however, would suggest another cold spell in the third week of February.

Annual review of weather, London weather, Weather

Wanstead Weather: 2018 review

January 2, 2019 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

This year finished as the 7th warmest on record – some 0.8C warmer than the 1981-2010 average.

Only two months of 2018 were more than 1C below – the means of April, May, June and July were at least 2C above average.

Rainfall was less remarkable with the year finishing 97 per cent of average. The total of 584.4mm puts it as the 81st driest since 1797, just over 20mm wetter than 2017.

It was a sunny year with 1,641 hours of sunshine recorded. That’s 111 per cent of average, the 23rd sunniest since 1881.

For a review of each month, click January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

You can read the national review of weather events at the Met Office blog here.

Street trees, trees

The green lung of Wanstead

December 6, 2018 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

The tree canopy cover map on the Mayor of London’s website reveals just how blessed Wanstead’s inhabitants are in terms of clean air relative to the proximity of the City.

Those living closest to the junction of Wanstead Park Avenue and Northumberland Avenue benefit most from Wanstead Park, Wanstead Flats and Bushwood.

Lido, Wanstead Park history

Wild swimming in Wanstead Park?

June 19, 2018 wansteadmeteo Leave a comment

Lewisham’s Beckenham Place Park will next year be home to a new wild swimming lake, thanks to a plan to make London the world’s first National Park City.

The scheme put me in mind of the Shoulder of Mutton lake in Wanstead Park which, decades ago, used to host swimming galas and other events. Long-time residents of Aldersbrook will remember the jetty and diving board that stood at the edge of the lake before falling into disrepair that led to their removal.

With millions set to be spent shoring up the dams of the park’s lake system it is surely feasible that the City of London Corporation can reopen Shoulder of Mutton to swimming while the work is undertaken.

While being cheaper than a lido it would provide an excellent resource and give local residents the chance to enjoy once more swimming in natural surroundings, just like in the Serpentine and Hampstead Ponds.