The strong anti-cyclone at the end of October kept its grip for most of the month although they were some brief northerly outbreaks. The weather was mild and dry for the first six of the month, and the 1st and 3rd were both sunny. A westerly flow brought rain for the 7th and then the wind veered more northerly for the 8th and 9th, making the weather turn colder. Snow fell at 9.45am on the 8th for 10 minutes but it didn't settle. The 9th, despite being colder, saw cloudless skies and uninterrupted sunshine, despite the lowest temperature of the month that morning, with 30F.

The next few days were milder but cloudy and unsettled. The anti-cyclone regained its hold on the 13th, and no rain fell until the 21st. The weather was colder on the 13th and 14th, but it soon turned milder again. Air pressure reached 1044MB on the 16th as the strength of the anticyclone increased, but there was a spell of anticyclone gloom between the 16th and the 19th, with no sunshine being recorded on any of those days.

The weather remained quiet and mainly dull, apart from the odd day, up to the 27th, when it turned milder and unsettled. A disturbed South-Westerly pressure system took over, feeding very mild air in from the Azores. 59F was recorded on the 29th and 61F on the 30th. The minimum temperature didn't fall below 50F during the night of the 29th/30th, though during the night of the 24th/25th it didn't fall below 52F, the highest minimum temperature of the month. Two nights earlier, 33F had been recorded along with a slight frost. Two nights later, 35F was the minimum. Three frosts were recorded during the month.

November 2001 was the driest November recorded since 1988, being 18mm drier than 1999 and a very anticyclonic month. It was milder than average, though not by much, being 0.5C milder than usual. Sunshine temperatures were around average. There wasn't much strong wind during the month.

Kevin Phillips - 11.35am - Sunday 9th December 2001.