The strong anticyclone which secured its tenure over the UK from late August, lost its hold on the 1st September as an unstable South-Westerly flow brought fronts across the country from the atlantic, giving heavy downpours and strong winds. This was displaced by a ridge of high pressure, which held sway from the 2nd to the 4th, but the 5th was a miserable and muggy day, as well as wet.

From the 6th to the 9th a disturbed southwesterly type affected the UK with the remnants of ex-hurricane Danielle located off western Scotland. Warm and sunny weather occurred on those dates, but with it came a feeling of closeness. The highest temperature of the month, 75F, was recorded on the 7th. The minimum temperature was 59F on the night of the 6th/7th. These conditions produced a thunderstorm, which broke at 2.15pm on the afternoon of the 9th, depositing heavy rain.

The following day, the warm air responsible for these conditions was displaced by cool air from the north-west, as a result, the weather became a great deal cooler. The maximum temperature on the 12th was only 56F, accompanied with a chilly northerly wind. This cool weather didn't last long, but after a dry, warm and sunny 14th, severe gusts occurred in places on the 16th and the maximum gust here was 40mph.

Following in the wake of the winds of the 16th was an strong anticyclone, bringing fine, sunny and warm weather with dry air, most notably when the morning fog lifted on the 18th, 19th and 20th. In fact each morning from the 18th to the 21st was foggy. The barometric pressure was 1033MB on the 19th, the highest all month, and 74F was recorded under a cloudless sky on the 20th. No rain fell until the 26th, when the wind changed to the north-east as the system lost its grip. A deep depression containing the remains of hurricane Karl brushed the country, giving a foul day on the 30th, which was also the wettest day of the month. It rained practically all day, and heavy for spells.

Most of the month's rain fell in the heavy falls on the 1st, 5th and 30th and the thunderstorm on the 9th. If it weren't for these dates it would have been one of the driest Septembers on record. Three successive very wet Septembers were recorded consecutively from 1993 to 1995. September 1998's rainfall was around average here.

Daytime temperatures were 1.4F above average but night-time temperatures were high, averaging at 2C above normal. September 1998 was the warmest September for nine years - since 1989. It was a warmer month than June 1998.

Kevin Phillips - 11.05pm - Sunday 4th October 1998.