Let’s talk about the weather

Ever since arriving in the Wychwoods in 1981, I have been keeping detailed weather records. To begin
with, it was a manual recording system but in 1995 I bought a Davis Vantage Pro 2 that downloads 28
different aspects of the weather every five minutes so all the data is on the computer. But before I go any
further, one word of warning: I am a weather recorder, not a forecaster; I leave that to the experts so please
don’t ask me to look ahead. With all this data at my disposal I find it fascinating to look at the trends in our
local weather as well as its extremes.

In the Wychwoods we will never set a heat record as our location is such that record temperatures are
noted more in the South East and occasionally in the West Midlands. However, when it comes to record
cold temperatures, we are very well positioned being in the centre of a landmass and in a natural frost
hollow in the Cotswolds. In fact the coldest spot locally is just off the Ascott Road between Shipton and
Ascott under Wychwood, close to the river, as the open fields and the lack of heat from houses is ideal for
plunging temperatures.

The snowiest winter was that of 1981/2 when over 40cm of snow fell in December and January, and it was
on the night of the 12/13 th January 1982 that I recorded the lowest temperature of -20.7°C (-5.2°F). The
maximum temperature on the 13 th was only -9.8°C (14.3°F) which was after a particularly very heavy
snowfall and under clear skies. The warmest temperature recorded was on the 19 th July 2006 at 34.7°C
(94.5°F). When the UK record was broken in Faversham in Kent on the 10 th August 2003, the Wychwoods
had the heat the day before as a cold front was creeping in from the west and we only (!) reached 34.2°C
(93.5°F).

The Wychwoods have suffered from flooding, and in particular the copious amounts of rain that fell on the
20 th July 2007 when over 100mm fell on the day. That was the day when Gloucestershire hit the headlines
with extensive flooding in places like Moreton-in- Marsh where the primary school effectively disappeared
underwater and its buildings remained closed until the following April. Many local houses were flooded,
particularly in Ascott, by flash flooding and the main A361 was closed at the bridge because of the damage.
The main river flood came through the following day from the upper reaches of the Evenlode, a river that
rises just above Moreton, which had up to 150mm of rain on the same day.

Being some distance from the coast we do not experience the worst of the gales, particularly because we
are in a sheltered valley and the main strength of wind is normally from the South West. Where we can get
a ‘blast’ is when we pick up a North Westerly after a cold front goes by, and I have recorded gusts of over
65 mph on three occasions under these conditions. It is far more likely that we suffer from ‘valley’ fog which
is caused by the inversion of temperature where we have lower temperatures in the Wychwoods than at
Chipping Norton; in essence, this is because the cold air is heavier than warm air and it sinks down into the
valley. A good example of that was on the 19 th December 2010 where we recorded -16.7°C (1.9°F) at
Shipton whilst Chipping Norton never fell below -2.3°C (27.9°F), a massive difference of 26°F. That evening
we were even colder than the notorious Benson RAF base that recorded -15.8°C.
We have seen fluctuations in temperature and rainfall over the past 35 years that I have recorded, and the
overall trend on a very local level is a minor increase in both annual temperature and rainfall. 2017 actually
turned out to have been fairly average with rainfall lower than average (531.4mm compared with the
average of 649.3mm) and the temperature slightly above the average (10.34°C compared with the average
of 9.86°C).

So there we have it: local temperatures ranging from -20.7°C to 34.7°C; little wonder that the British are so
fond of talking about the weather!

John Miskin

February – March 2018