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.

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Hallmark January 1990. report by Bill Cleaver

1989 was an unusual year for weather, prompting many questions about the "greenhouse effect". Although most official comment is "not sure" or "not enough evidence yet" a trend towards more extreme weather seems to be setting in. To older residents ‘89 brought back memories of warm sunny days of childhood holidays. Harry Floyd and the late Tony Adams confirmed that 1921 and 1933 were much like some of our recent splendid summers, but with one major difference. In 1921 frequent journeys had to be made with horse and cart to the stream at Saunderton to fetch water for the cattle (a cow needs at least ten gallons every day) and villagers got their drinking water either from the Parish Well near Loosley Row forge or more likely from a Council water cart. 1933 was somewhat better in this respect as mains water had just been laid on. These old mains are the same ones which seem to have been springing so many leaks in the last few years.

Last winter was probably the mildest since 1869, and the second mildest since 1659. Aphid and fungal attacks on the plants were widespread and slugs seemed to have a ‘field day'! On 25 February air pressure fell to 952 mb (28.1) the lowest in this area for over a century but fortunately without storm damage. Incidentally, there was a splendid and colourful display of ‘Northern Lights' on 13 March, the best display this far south since 1938. Further good displays are likely as sunspot activity has not yet reached maximum intensity.

April was colder than March (there is only a 1 in 40 chance of this) and this helped to check plant growth and may have contributed much to the abundant crops of soft fruit and apples later on. After 2 inches of snow on 25 April summer arrived on 1st May and with only short and usually welcome rain days, stayed with us until 5 October. There was so much warm sunshine that long-standing records were broken with an average of 9 hours a day - more like Southern Spain or the French Riviera. Temperatures were about 5 deg. F above normal.

Autumn continued rather dry and quite warm (mildest since the '60s) and from 12 November to 12 December we had just one mm of rain, whereas Gibraltar and Southern Spain reported one metre, yes, that's right, three feet of rain! Mid December did, however, help to restore the balance with 64 inches (163mm) of rain, a welcome addition to water reserves.

Rainfall details for the year: Total 686 mm, 27 inches, just a little below average.

As I write in mid January it continues mild. Roses and outdoor fuchsias are coming into leaf. They, and we, should be prepared for at least one cold spell.

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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.