October 2008
The Okement Valley east of Okehampton on a warm and humid October day.
The Okement Valley east of Okehampton on a warm and humid October day.
Summary for  October 2008
Mean Max: 14.4ºC  
Mean Min: 7.0ºC  
Mean: 10.7ºC (-0.5ºC)
     
High Max: 20.5ºC 12th
Low Max: 7.1ºC 29th
High Min: 12.7ºC 15th
Low Min: -1.2ºC 29th
Mean Grass Min: 4.6ºC  
Grass Min: -2.8ºC 29th
     
Rain Total (gauge): 136.1 mm (171%)
Rain Total (tipping bucket): 146.8 mm (184%)
Rain Days >0.2 mm: 16 Days  
Rain Days >1.0 mm: 14 Days  
Max 24 hrs: 70.8 mm 30th
Days without any rain: 15  
     
Air Frost: 1 Days  
Ground Frost: 1 Days  
Snow Falling: 0 Days  
Snow (50%) @ 9am: 0 Days  
Thunder Heard: 3 Days  
Hail <5 mm: 3 Days  
Hail >5 mm: 0 Days  
Fog @ 9am: 1 Days  
     
Total Monthly Sunshine: 143h:54m  
Total Monthly Sunshine: 143.6 Hours  
Most Sunshine in a Day: 10h:08m 10th
Average Daily Sunshine: 04h:38m  
Sunless Days: 5 Days  
Cloudless Days: 5 Days  
Total Possible Sunshine: 330h:53m  
Percentage of Total Sun: 43%  
     
Mean Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 11.2ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 5.1ºC 31st
Max Soil Temp @ 30 cm: 13.3ºC 7th
Mean Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 12.1ºC  
Min Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 7.4ºC 30th
Max Soil Temp @ 100 cm: 13.4ºC 1st
     
Mean 10 Min Wind >39 mph: 0.1 Days  
N: 1.86 Days  
NE: 1.33 Days  
E: 0.78 Days  
SE: 3.05 Days  
S: 7.22 Days  
SW: 4.22 Days  
W: 6.52 Days  
NW: 2.76 Days  
Calm: 8.07 Days  
Mean Wind: 4 mph  
Max Gust: 41 mph 7th
     
Mean Cloud Cover: 60%  
Mean RH @ 9am: 88%  
Rain Duration >0.1mm/hour: 55.8 Hours  
Frost Duration: 5.0 Hours  
Max Frost Duration in a Day: 5.0 Hours 29th
     
Mean Sea Temperature: 14.8ºC  
Normal for Month:    
Max Sea Temperature: 15.8ºC 1st
Min Sea Temperature: 12.9ºC 31st
     
Mean Pressure @ 9am: 1016.1 hPa (+1.7 hPa)
Mean Pressure: 1014.7 hPa (+0.3 hPa)
Max Pressure: 1031.5 hPa 9th
Min Pressure: 986.5 hPa 30th
     
Max Dewpoint: 16.8ºC 7th
Min Dewpoint: -3.8ºC 29th
Mean Dewpoint: 7.0ºC  
     
Max Humidity: 94% 7th
Min Humidity: 54% 1st
Mean Humidity: 80% (-5)

Cool and wet to start but soon became settled, sunny and warm. This settled spell lasted until the 3rd week. No rain from the 8th to the 19th but afterwards it became quite wet with rain on most days though not large amounts. It also became cooler and the month ended cold and stormy with an exceptional hailstorm in the early hours of the 30th.

Temperatures were above the long-term average until the last few days when a cold, northerly airstream became established. This dragged the mean temperature down considerably with the month ending up below average. The last 3 days saw exceptionally low maximum temperatures.

Rainfall was generally around average until the thunder/hail storm of the 30th when over 70 mm of rain fell in just a couple of hours.
Air frosts are not commonly recorded here in October but there was one on the 29th. Quite an unsettled end to the month with thunder being heard on 3 days and these were accompanied by hail.
Despite the sun not making an appearance on 5 days, this October was generally quite sunny, especially around the middle of the month.
Soil temperatures were around average until the very end of the month when they dropped significantly due to frost and a severe hailstorm.
Winds dominated from the south and west sectors until the last few days.
For such a wet month it was actually raining for only 56 hours.
Sea temperatures fell gradually throughout the month and on the whole were around average or slightly below average, especially at the end of the month.
Mean pressure was 0.3 hPa above normal.
Dewpoints were generally high for the first 3 weeks but fell significantly during the last few days as dry, cold air from the north pushed southwards.
The cold, Arctic air near the end to the month meant relative humidity ended up being below normal.
 
Weather Data for Otter Valley, Devon.  October 2008  
  Temp (oC) Hum (RH%) Dewpoint (oC) Wind (mph) Rain Pressure (hPa) Grass Sun  
  Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Min Max Ave Max Ave Run mm Min Max Ave Min Hours Observations
1 10.9 15.3 13.1 54 88 71 4.6 10.6 7.6 32 8.6 207 2.7 1002 1006 1004 7.0 5.7 Sunny ints am, showers pm
2 6.4 13.7 10.1 56 88 72 2.7 6.9 4.8 26 4.5 107 3.6 1004 1007 1006 3.3 4.9 Sunny intervals all day
3 7.4 12.2 9.8 60 87 74 1.8 5.4 3.6 31 7.4 177 4.5 1006 1021 1014 4.1 4.7 Sunny ints and showers
4 3.2 14.7 9.0 77 89 83 -0.7 12.4 5.9 30 4.2 100 0.7 1004 1021 1013 1.4 0.0 Rain intermittent all day
5 11.6 17.4 14.5 83 92 88 7.0 14.2 10.6 21 5.6 134 8.3 993 1007 1000 8.3 2.9 Cloudy am, sunny ints pm
6 8.7 15.3 12.0 82 90 86 5.5 11.9 8.7 18 2.9 70 0.0 1007 1011 1009 7.2 3.4 Sunny intervals all day
7 11.3 16.3 13.8 74 94 84 7.9 16.8 12.4 41 9.1 220 13.4 1001 1009 1005 11.6 4.7 Rain am, sunny intervals pm
8 6.1 17.5 11.8 61 93 77 2.8 13.8 8.3 12 1.4 34 0.0 1009 1026 1018 5.5 9.4 Sunny all day
9 3.7 16.8 10.3 68 92 80 0.5 10.9 5.7 13 1.6 37 0.0 1026 1032 1029 4.4 9.5 Sunny all day
10 11.1 17.7 14.4 64 90 77 6.4 12.8 9.6 20 3.7 90 0.0 1027 1032 1029 8.6 10.1 Sunny all day
11 8.4 18.4 13.4 70 92 81 5.7 11.6 8.7 13 2.7 64 0.0 1024 1027 1026 6.4 10.1 Sunny all day
12 8.4 20.5 14.5 64 92 78 5.9 15.8 10.9 14 2.0 48 0.0 1019 1025 1022 6.4 8.4 Misty early am then sunny
13 12.2 16.8 14.5 71 91 81 9.3 12.1 10.7 16 2.8 68 0.0 1016 1021 1018 8.8 2.0 Cloudy am, sunny ints pm
14 11.5 15.9 13.7 79 90 85 9.3 12.5 10.9 15 1.9 46 0.0 1017 1021 1019 10.1 0.0 Cloudy all day
15 12.7 14.9 13.8 76 92 84 7.5 13.2 10.4 25 4.7 112 0.0 1011 1017 1014 10.4 0.0 Cloudy all day
16 8.1 14.6 11.4 57 90 74 3.8 9.2 6.5 20 3.5 84 0.0 1014 1020 1017 6.5 6.3 Sunny intervals all day
17 3.3 15.3 9.3 62 92 77 0.6 10.6 5.6 8 0.6 13 0.0 1020 1022 1021 2.2 5.8 Sunny intervals all day
18 3.6 15.4 9.5 68 91 80 1.3 10.9 6.1 14 1.1 27 0.0 1019 1021 1020 1.1 5.3 Sunny intervals all day
19 9.2 14.7 12.0 65 88 77 6.3 10.9 8.6 22 3.8 92 0.0 1014 1021 1017 4.7 0.6 Brief sunny intervals all day
20 12.7 15.6 14.2 78 90 84 7.2 13.0 10.1 28 6.9 165 24.0 1005 1015 1010 9.3 0.0 Cloudy am, rain pm
21 5.2 13.3 9.3 61 90 76 2.6 7.7 5.2 21 2.9 70 1.6 1006 1017 1012 2.5 8.0 Sunny intervals all day
22 2.3 14.4 8.4 61 92 77 -0.1 10.1 5.0 18 1.1 27 1.6 1017 1025 1021 0.4 7.4 Showers am, sunny pm
23 5.7 14.2 10.0 73 91 82 3.1 9.9 6.5 29 5.5 133 4.5 1016 1026 1021 2.4 0.0 Cloudy am, rain pm
24 8.8 14.1 11.5 55 90 73 2.5 11.1 6.8 22 3.9 93 0.7 1015 1029 1022 2.4 6.1 Sunny intervals all day
25 1.3 14.1 7.7 75 92 84 -1.1 10.2 4.6 20 2.6 63 0.0 1022 1031 1027 0.7 2.9 Sunny intervals all day
26 11.7 15.0 13.4 82 90 86 6.2 12.6 9.4 21 4.9 119 3.6 1015 1022 1019 7.5 0.9 Rain am, bright pm
27 3.6 9.8 6.7 77 90 84 1.1 7.0 4.1 16 1.0 24 2.2 1011 1015 1013 2.7 3.7 Sunshine & showers
28 1.4 9.3 5.4 77 92 85 -1.6 7.9 3.2 17 1.1 26 2.2 1009 1014 1011 0.2 6.4 Sunshine & showers
29 -1.2 7.1 3.0 69 89 79 -3.8 3.6 -0.1 23 3.2 76 2.6 997 1014 1005 -2.8 6.0 Sunny am, rain evening
30 4.3 7.2 5.8 80 91 86 1.6 5.4 3.5 29 8.4 201 70.8 987 1001 994 0.3 0.3 Severe hailstorm overnight
31 2.9 8.6 5.8 67 84 76 0.0 4.1 2.1 23 6.8 164 0.0 1001 1010 1005 0.1 7.9 Sunny intervals all day
7.0 14.4 10.7 69 90 80 3.5 10.5 7.0 21 3.9 2886 146.8 1011 1019 1015 4.6 143.60  
 

Graphs for October 2008
Figure 1. Temperature and Rainfall for October 2008.
Figure 2. Sunshine, air pressure and mean wind speed for October 2008.
Figure 3. Wind direction for October 2008.
Figure 4. Soil & sea surface temperature (SST) for Lyme Bay for October 2008.
Figure 5. Wind run, maximum gusts and mean pressure for October 2008.