Stormy end after warmest October day recorded earlier in month
A new temperature record was set last month for an October day.
A maximum air temperature of 24.3C was recorded on 8 October. This surpassed the 23.6C record, which was set in 2011.
‘Although last October was warmer, with a mean monthly temperature of 14.8C, this was still the sixth-warmest since our records began back in 1843,’ the Guernsey Met Office confirmed.
‘After a warm and dry start, the second half of the month yielded over 90% of the month’s rainfall, but sunshine overall was very close to the long-term average.’
There was 121.5mm of rain over the month, compared to an average of 97.9mm. In terms of sunshine, there was 119 hours – just one below the average.
While the second half of the month was quite wet, there were only four days during the month when there was no sun.
The first of the rain from Storm Babet arrived late evening on the 17th and it became heavier and more persistent on the 18th as the main storm arrived.
That day saw the strongest winds of the month.
‘Initially our fresh to strong winds came in from just south of east, but veered sharply early afternoon in to the south-west, increasing fresh to strong with gusts up to 53mph noted at the airport early that evening,’ Guernsey Met Office said.
‘Fort Albert in Alderney recorded a maximum gust of 73mph around the same time.’
Despite this, Storm Babet did not bring the wettest day, which was on Thursday 26 October, when 15.7mm of rain fell.
October ended with high spring tides and some strong winds, leading to tide warnings.
Storm Ciaran arrived in Guernsey on 1 November.
