Weather Report

Bill & Madeline Cleaver with their two sons, Roland and Jeffrey settled in Lacey Green in 1970.   “Settled” being the appropriate word, as they not only stayed here but actively participated in community life here for the rest of their lives.

Bill was a meteorologist for the RAF at Strike Command, formerly Bomber Command He regularly wrote about the weather in Hallmark, the village magazine.

Shown on the right one of the three meticulous summaries found in Bill's notebooks

Perhaps less well known was the fact that he also regularly wrote a gardening page, which he signed “From the potting shed”, probably not wanting his name to be in the magazine too often.

Hallmark January 1991. Bill Cleaver reviews the 1990 weather and finds – an exceptionally fine summer

January was unusually mild (indeed free of air frost), wet and often windy. On 25th there was a severe gale, (Benson Airfield recorded mean wind 55 mph with gusts to 84 mph).

February was also mild and wet with SW’ly winds. After a brief cold speel in early March there were several unusually warm and sunny days which led to premature plant growth and flowering so that a frosty week in early April devastated most fruit crops over England. However, for us up on the hill, blossoming was just far enough behind to be unaffected; indeed the subsequent harvest of apples, plums and grapes was abundant.

The second half of April was very warm, dry and sunny, leading to an even warmer drier and sunny May.

June and the first week of July were rather cool, cloudy and wet, but from 8th July to 10th August high pressure dominated with hot, sunny weather.

On 3rd August the shade temperature in Lacey Green reached 95° deg.F, and a record-breaking 99°F at Cheltenham. Gardeners in particular welcomed a wet spell from 14th-19th August, then fine weather returned for about a month. Autumn in general followed a seasonal pattern.

The first ground frost 8th October, and the first snow (at Green Hailey) on 21st November. December was cool, dull and rather wet.

Rainfall over the year was erratic and between 26^th April and 17th September there were 5 spells of drought or near-drought.

Indeed from 1st March to 30th December – the growing season – the total rainfall was only 9 inches, less than the 10 inches which fell on 3rd December 1989 in Gibraltar (mentioned in last year's summary). Total rainfall for 1990 was 24.35 inches, of which Jan/Feb contributed almost 9 inches, and May and July combined less than 1 inch.

Hallmark February 1996. Report for 1995. An Outstanding Year Each month seemed to try to beat some record or other. For the gardener it was the warmest and driest growing season, April to August, since 1976, and for the holidaymaker August was as warm and sunny as the Mediterranean. October '94 to October '95 was the warmest 12-month spell on record. Crops of berries were unusually heavy - an excellent sloe-gin vintage!

January, wettest for over 50 years over much of Southern England, but 1988 was slightly wetter in Lacey Green. February frost-free, March cold with a snowy start. April brought high pressure and drought, with another drought in June. The third warmest July this century was followed by a very hot, sunny and very dry August, then December was the wettest since 1976 (which also had a very hot summer). Warm weather returned for October, warmest since 1923, and about 6*F warmer than 1994. Strawberies were flowering until a sharp frost on 7th November, and 'AUTUMN' was the warmest this century. Cold and dull weather prevailed in December, with dangerous ice and freezing rain all dayon the 30th.