Sunniest January in eight years... despite the rain
LAST month was the sunniest January in eight years, even though islanders are more likely to remember the heavy rainfall.
There were 11 days without sunshine, but when it did come out it shone for 77.6 hours of sunshine, well above the 30-year average of 62 hours.
That is an average of two-and-a-half hours of sunshine a day throughout the month.
The sunniest day of the month was Sunday 12 January, with 7.6 hours.
A Guernsey Met Office spokesman said that made it the sunniest January since 2017.
‘But it is likely the month will be remembered for the deluge of rainfall experienced on the 29th,’ he said.
It was indeed a very wet month. Normally about 92mm of rain would be expected during the January.
But there was just short of 160mm last month. And 33.3mm of that fell on Wednesday 29 January.
‘Storm Ivo, named by the Portuguese Met service, while not threatening particularly strong winds for the Bailiwick, did deliver some significant rainfall over an eight hour period on Wednesday 29th,’ the spokesman said.
‘Localised flooding across the islands caused travel disruption and some temporary road closures.
‘An official 24-hour total of 33.3mm at Guernsey Airport made it the wettest day since August last year, and only added to an already wet month – nearly 60mm above the long-term average.’
While it might have been wet, there were 11 days with no or only trace rainfall.
The fifth named storm of the winter – Storm Eowyn – came in the final week of the month.
‘We avoided the most damaging winds experienced further north (114mph in Ireland and 100mph in Scotland), but 24th was a wet, windy and at times misty day,’ the spokesman said.
When it came to temperatures, it was rather cold, with an average of 6.4C, compared to the 7.2C of the long-term average.
During the entire month the temperature did not reach 13C, with a maximum temperature of 12.7C early in the month.
The lowest the mercury dropped to was 1.6C in the middle of the month.
‘For the second consecutive year, the mean temperature for January was below the long-term average, and indeed the coolest since 2010,’ he said.
‘But there was an absence of any noticeably cold spells and the temperature remained above freezing throughout.’
