Marlborough’s weather during October 2014 will be remembered for the above average temperatures through much of the month, but also for the dismal few days from October 12 to 18. There were six days when no sunshine was recorded.
Sunshine amounted to 66 hours during the month. The two sunniest days were October 7 and 28 when 6.16 hours and 6.19 hours were recorded respectively.
October’s average temperature in Marlborough was 11.99C, which is 1.5C above the long-term average with extremes in 2001 with 12.77C and 6.95 in 1992.
A highlight was the spell of very warm days at the start of the month, but the warmest day was the last day of October when the thermometer peaked at 20.7C. Since 1984 the record temperature in Marlborough for this month is a high of 26.7C, which occurred on the first day of October 2011.
The final hours of the month also saw the warmest night when the thermometer did not drop below 13.8C, which is very close to the average daytime temperature. October 5 brought the coldest night with a minimum of 0.7C.
With the wind coming from a southerly quarter for 21 days of October, it is not surprising to find that there were no air frosts during the month. From 1984 to 2000 I have recorded at least one air frost in each October, but in the last 14 years eight Octobers have been free of air frosts.
October’s rainfall fell predominantly during the first half of the month with large falls of over 10 mm on three days and a maximum of 14.1mm on October 13. The total rainfall amounted to 92.2mm, which is close to the long-term average of 88.9mm. This total is far less than the heavy rainfall of the previous two years.
There were only ten totally dry days during the whole of the month.
Many days were quite windy with four days producing maxima in excess of 30mph. The peak gust occurred on October 21 with a maximum of 38mph.
That was the day many other areas of the country were lashed by ex-hurricane Gonzalo’s tail – but for the most part Gonzalo passed Marlborough by.
That day there was no rain during daylight hours and there were frequent gusts for several hours in excess of 30mph. Just before 2.00pm the temperature began to fall from a maximum of 12.8C to 11C as the wind continued to veer from a southwesterly direction to a cooler northwesterly. The wind strength over this period gave a wind chill of 9C, which must have given some people a bit of a shock.
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