CLOUDY and damp sums up the weather for September according to figures collected at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden. Again sunshine was in short supply 127.4 hours during the month – 14.9 hours below the average. There were two days without any sun at a

CLOUDY and damp sums up the weather for September according to figures collected at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden.

Again sunshine was in short supply 127.4 hours during the month - 14.9 hours below the average. There were two days without any sun at all and the brightest day was September 26 which had 10 hours of sunshine.

As well as being dull, September was also wetter than normal with a total of 66.2mm of rain falling, which is 5.2mm above the average. There was measurable rainfall on 18 days during the month and five days saw more than 5mm of rainfall; September 12 was the wettest day when 14mm fell. September was the seventh month this year with above-average rainfall.

The month was neither hot nor cold, with a maximum average temperature of 17 degrees centigrade and a minimum average temperature of 9.9 degrees centigrade, slightly below and above average respectively.

The hottest day was Friday, September 19, with a top temperature of 19.5 degrees centigrade, which was 4.3 below average.

Temperatures fell to 5.2 degrees centigrade on one night, which is 1.6 above average.

The average wind speed for the month was 7.8 km and one ground frost was recorded.