A drop in air pressure on the 11th brought gusts up to 50mph. The 12th though was fine and sunny, whilst the 13th and 14th were both mild. Whilst the 15th itself was mild and sunny, a deep atlantic south-westerly low covered the UK. Thought the 16th was a mild day, it was miserable with persistent heavy rain. The 17th dawned fine and sunny but heavy rain broke out that afternoon and remained for the rest of the day. It also rained heavily that evening, finally stopping just before midnight.
The 18th with a fine, clear, sunny day, though during the early hours, the temperature dropped to below freezing for the first time this year since the middle of April.
The weather was became very disturbed from the 20th onwards, with deep depressions and active fronts. Gusts blew early on the 21st but that day was largely fine, as was the 22nd, but heavy rain and gusts occurred at evening. Through all this, 66F was recorded on the 22nd, the highest temperature all month and the lowest temperature between midnight and 9am on the 22nd was 57F, which is higher than the minima for June, July or August. Another mild night occurred on the 22nd/23rd.
The 23rd and 24th were both very wet, and disturbed with strong winds, thunder and lightning. The 26th provided a respite but the weather remained unsettled from the 27th to the 29th. On the 30th, though heavy rain fell that morning, the afternoon was fine and sunny. Halloween was cold and cloudy but dry. It was the first rainless day for 18 days.
October 1998 was the 4th wettest October of the 20th Century and the wettest for 11 years, since 1987. 1903, 1960 and 1987 were wetter. It has now become the wettest month of 1998 so far, and 1998 is turning out to the wettest year in the UK since 1994. Rainfall was two and a half times the usual amount, and the floods recorded in parts of the UK were worse than those recorded at Easter. Despite the disturbed conditions, particularly after the 16th, sunshine totals were above normal.
Kevin Phillips - 11.40am - Saturday 7th November 1998.
