October 2000

1st - 8th Passing depressions and their associated frontal troughs provided a chilly mixed bag of weather. Most places had spells of rain or showers, sometimes heavy, with a gust of 71 kn recorded at Capel Curig/Gwynedd on the 3rd. There were sunny periods at times, with mainly dry weather on the 2nd and 3rd . Some showers turned thundery on the 5th especially in the south, while a transient ridge gave mainly dry conditions during the 6th. A cold wet day on the 7th gave way to scattered showers on the 8th.
9th - 12th A very wet period as a complex low lingered over northern parts bringing much rain and wind on the 9th - 10th. The situation was compounded later on the 11th - 12th by a slow moving area of heavy rain and showers affecting Sussex and adjacent areas of Kent. Torrential downpours gave between four and six inches of rain overnight in many places causing severe local flooding, Plumpton in East Sussex received 144 mm of rain in 24 hours.
13th - 22nd More changeable weather as low pressure to the north-west drove belts of rain and showers across the region. Some days had good sunny periods and temperatures near normal. The 14th was cloudy with rain and drizzle while the 17th and 20th were wet in most places. The south-east and East Anglia was rather cold, cloudy and wet at times during the 21st/22nd.
23rd - 26th More unsettled as Atlantic depressions passed close by. Brisk westerly winds carried scattered showers to many places, most frequent and heaviest in western areas.
27th - 31st Another very wet spell commenced, culminating in a severe storm and heavy rain during the 29th to 30th as a deep depression crossed northern parts. Gusts between 70 and 80 kn were common around coasts with a gust of 84 kn recorded at Mumbles/Swansea. Flooding was widespread especially in the south as another two inches of rain fell, with some places in East Sussex collecting 350 mm [nearly 14 inches] for the month. Bognor/West Sussex suffered damage from a tornado, while lowering temperatures allowed snow to fall over higher parts of the Pennines.

A succession of deep Atlantic depressions passed over or to the north of Scotland, maintaining an unsettled and changeable weather regime. A number of active frontal systems ensured that it was a wet month. Because the low pressure centres passed close to Scotland, the rain was accompanied by a variety of wind directions, ensuring that there was no large scale variation in rainfall across the country.

A feature of the month was that there were no prolonged periods of cloud caused by slow moving fronts or warm sectors. Bright and showery weather was experienced between the bands of rain, and so sunshine totals were also above average.

The most notable weather event occurred on the 9th and 10th when a deep depression and its associated fronts brought 121 mm of rain to the Stranraer area, with associated severe local flooding.

Persistent rainfall producing rainfall totals of 10 mm or more affected most areas on five or more days during the month. Monday the 9th was an exceptionally wet day across Counties Antrim and Down, with more than 80 mm recorded locally on this day alone. The last eight days of the month were very wet generally, but especially so in the north and west. There were no notable extremes of temperature during the month, with the 3rd being warmest by far when temperatures reached 18 °C in some areas. Day-time temperatures typically ranged between 11 and 14 °C, but Monday 9th and the last three days of the month were much cooler, with maximum temperatures of between 7 and 10 °C. Air frosts were recorded locally on the nights of 5th/6th, 20th/21st and 29th/30th, with ground frosts recorded on up to 11 nights.

1st - 13th Very unsettled with periods of persistent rain followed by showers and brief drier, clearer conditions. Thursday 5th was a very sunny day generally, except for the far north-west. Exceptionally wet day across Counties Antrim and Down on Monday 9th, relatively small amounts of rainfall recorded across most other areas.
14th - 21st Often dry and sunny, although persistent heavy rain early on 16th, and also early on 20th with thunder reported in many areas.
22nd - 31st Generally wet with frequent spells of persistent rain and showers.