SEVERE WEATHER RECORD 2012

A summary of severe weather warnings
and other notable weather extremes for
Northamptonshire since February 1998.

Severe Weather Records from Previous Years:
1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
 

3 January

Gale force winds batter the county with periods of heavy rain and hail during the course of the morning. The strong winds ease slighly during the afternoon, but pick up again during the evening. The maximum gust recorded at Pitsford is 51mph. No reports of disruption are received from across the county, although some fast routes are closed temporarily beyond the county.

Maximum wind speed and rainfall recorded on 3rd January. Note - the archive interval for maximum gusts and rainfall is 15 mins.

5 January

Strong winds once more batter the county, causing disruption on the roads with many fallen trees and branches. The police deal with 30 incidents of trees blocking roads during the morning. A woman escapes with minor injuries when a tree falls on to her car in a supermarket car park in Wellingborough. Dozens of panels of security fencing is blown across the Grafton Industrial Estate in Northampton and the road between Greens Norton and Blakesley is closed following an accident.

11 February

The county wakes to the coldest February morning since 1986 and the second coldest since 1917. A low of -13.0C is recorded at Pitsford with freezing fog and rime creating a classical winter landscape. Previous record lows include -15.4C recorded in February of 1986 and -13.8C recorded in February 1917. 10cm of snow continues to lie on the ground at 0900hrs, following a significant fall of snow on the evening of the 9th.

28th & 29th April

Prolonged and, at times, heavy rain falls across the county culminating in flood alerts being issued on rivers across the county. 19.7mm of rain is recorded at Pitsford Hall over the 48 hour period ending 0900GMT on 29th. Accidents are reported on roads including incidents due to poor visibility and cars aquaplaning. Isebrook Reservoir is forced to release additional water into a local river, despite the county still being in drought conditions and with a hosepipe ban in force. Billing Aquadrome in Northampton is evacuated as a safety precaution against rising floodwaters on the River Nene.The rain on the 29th is also accompanied by strong winds, gusting to 52mph at Pitsford.

Air temperature recorded by AWS at Pitsford Hall overnight 10th-11th February. Note the actual screen minimum air temperature was recorded as -13.0C, 0.6C lower than that recorded by the electronic sensor.

The weather extremes documented here are generally only those observed at Pitsford Hall Weather Station. Unconfirmed reports received of extreme events in other parts of the county are indicated by *.

Averages used in these reports refer to the period 1981-2010 unless otherwise indicated.