Spring 1893

[Weather-history]

Spring 1893 was one of the warmest and driest Springs on record. It will be remembered for the longest drought in UK recorded history where some stations did not record measurable rain for 60+ days. The rainfall average for England and Wales for that Spring was 71.5mm, compared to the 1961-90 average of 200.7mm

Here's a list of the length of the drought at these stations

Mile End, London 73 days 4th March to 15th May

Twickenham 72 days 4th March to 14th May

Maidstone 60 days 18th March to 16th May

Lewes 60 days 17th March to 15th May

Hastings 60 days 17th March to 15th May

Winchelsea 60 days 17th March to 15th May

March 1893 was dominated by high pressure and this led to a problem at night with frequent frosts and fogs but by the end of the month it had become significantly warmer with maxima reaching 21C.

April 1893 was also dominated by high pressure and the first half of the month was like with March was plagued by frosts at night with minima as low as -5C being recorded. The second half of the month was phenomenally warm with maxima regularly breeching the 25C mark. Cambridge recorded 28.9C on the 20th, 27.8C on the 24th and 25th whilst 28.1C was recorded at Ross-on-Wye on the 21st. All these values are record maxima for those dates. It was one of the warmest on record and very sunny too.

May 1893 saw the break in the drought. The first half of the month was dry and fairly sunny but a low from the Atlantic finally broke through on the 15th with the first measurable rainfall in a number of areas. The next 5 days were generally unsettled with rain, thunderstorms and even hail but the high pressure was back and the rest of the month was dominated by high pressure.

Spring 1893 had a CET of 10.2C and was the warmest and second driest on record

March 1893: 7.2

April 1893: 10.3

May 1893: 13.1

The period 18th-28th April had a CET of 12.8

The period 16th April-15th May had a CET of 12.7

April 1893 had an exceptionally high CET maximum average with 16.5C (84 Mays since 1878 have had a lower CET average maximum than this) but the nights were fairly cool overall, something that has happen to some extent with this April.

The CET average maximum for the spring was a remarkable 15.7C

March 1893 is the 9th driest March on record for England and Wales with 15.8mm

April 1893 is the 5th driest April on record for England and Wales with 9.9mm

[acbrixton]

Many thanks as always...would be interesting to know how the temperatures compared to the 1861-90 mean...(do you know where I can find historical CET data please?)

Regards

ACB

[cheeky_monkey]

what kind of summer followed??

[Weather-history]

what kind of summer followed??

June was warm but fairly dry. (15.6)

July was wet and close to the present day average (16.4)

August was warm and about average rainfall (17.4)

[Optimus Prime]

Looking like we're going to have a repeat performance this year. What was the winter of 1892/1893 like?

[summer blizzard]

Was'nt that the year without summer????

[NL]

Looking like we're going to have a repeat performance this year. What was the winter of 1892/1893 like?

Average according to this..http://www.napier.eclipse.co.uk/weather/bonacina.html

[Weather-history]

Was'nt that the year without summer????

You are thinking of the summer of 1816

[Weather-history]

Reigate, Holmfells. Surrey

Rainfall totals

March in inches

1st: 0.35

2nd: -

3rd: 0.06

4th: -

5th: -

6th: -

7th: -

8th: -

9th: -

10th: -

11th: -

12th: -

13th: 0.09

14th: 0.03

15th: 0.7

16th: 0.06

17th: -

18th: -

19th: -

20th: -

21st: -

22nd: -

23rd: -

24th: -

25th: -

26th: -

27th: -

28th: -

29th: -

30th: -

April

1st: -

2nd: -

3rd: -

4th: -

5th: -

6th: -

7th: -

8th: -

9th: -

10th: -

11th: -

12th: -

13th: -

14th: -

15th: -

16th: 0.05"

17th: -

18th: -

19th: -

20th: -

21st: -

22nd: -

23rd: -

24th: -

25th: -

26th: -

27th: -

28th: -

29th: -

30th: -

May

1st: -

2nd: -

3rd: -

4th: -

5th: -

6th: -

7th: -

8th: -

9th: -

10th: -

11th: -

12th: -

13th: -

14th: -

15th: -

16th: 0.01"

17th: 0.04"

18th: 0.43"

19th: 0.08"

20th: 0.05"

21st: 0.04"

22nd: -

23rd: -

24th: -

25th: -

26th: -

27th: -

28th: -

29th: 0.12"

30th: -

31st: -

June

1st: -

2nd: -

3rd: 0.03"

4th: -

5th: -

6th: -

7th: -

8th: -

9th: -

10th: -

11th: -

12th: -

13th: -

14th: -

15th: -

16th: -

17th: -

18th: -

19th: -

20th: -

21st: -

22nd: 0.25"

23rd: 0.01"

24th: 0.04"

25th: 0.01"

26th: 0.09"

27th: 0.25"

28th: -

29th: -

30th: -

[Thundery wintry showers]

Looking at the Met Office's stats for Durham (which are freely available on their website) the spring and summer of 1893 were both very notable indeed.

All three spring months had a mean maximum at least 2.5C above the 1961-90 average, but a mean minimum less than 1C above. All three months had a similar sunshine total- so March was very sunny, April fairly sunny and May close to average. Also March and April, but not May, were very dry.

In the summer, June was also very warm, dry and sunny, July was fairly warm, but dull and outstandingly wet (an unusual combination), and then August, while a dry sunny month, was phenomenal for its warmth- just 0.3C cooler than August 1995. Mean maximum temperature for the summer was about 2C above the 1961-90 average. (yes, I know I'm being a bit naughty using 1961-90 rather than 1971-2000, but the former period was more representative of earlier decades).

Perhaps a contender for warmest spring-summer combination on record in the North East, especially for maximum temperature? Even recent years have struggled to sustain that level of warmth, I think only 2003 has managed it.

[Gowon]

Amazing! If this was to happen this year i think the media would just keep mentioning every time they did the weather forecast how above average the temperatures were, when all along this was occurring along time ago.

Thank you Mr Data, your doing a great service. :winky:

[reef]

Many thanks as always...would be interesting to know how the temperatures compared to the 1861-90 mean...(do you know where I can find historical CET data please?)

Regards

ACB

Values compared to the 1861-1890 average:

March: 7.2C (+1.9C)

April: 10.3C (+2.2C)

May: 13.1C (+2.2C)

Interesting that the 1861-1890 averages for April and May were the same or just below the 1971-2000 average, yet March was 1.2C lower back then.

I must say such a homogeneously warm spring would be pretty boring for me, though I suspect it is what many people on netweather would prefer.

[Terminal Moraine]

I took a look at the early years of the record at Buxton and unfortunately the temperature data are missing for 1893.

However the rainfall figures are there and 1893 was the 5th driest in 138 years of records with 143.9 mm of rain falling.

The only drier springs in this area were 1928, 127.2mm, 1929, 140.3 mm,1946, 141.5 mm and 1974 with 137.1mm.

1990 came close with 144.6mm.

Not as exceptionally dry as further south but notable nontheless.