It brought gusts of 66mph in Shap and 54mph at Blackpool, causing 12 overhead line faults throughout the north of our region affecting 2,700 properties. Our automatic restoration technology restored power to the vast majority of customers within three minutes, and thankfully the weather didn’t have a widespread impact on power supplies.
As we’re now heading into winter we know how disruptive it can be to be without power in the colder and darker months. That’s why we’re proud to be involved in the new Winter Resilience Committee organised by the Energy Networks Association (ENA).
We will be supporting the committee to help raise awareness this winter of priority service registers and the essential support and advice on offer for our customers across the North West. To find out more and to join our Priority Services Register click here.
Are you hoping for a white Christmas this year? Let’s find out in the latest weather update from MeteoGroup senior meteorologist Paul Mott.
A look back
North West England experienced a distinctly mixed month of weather in November in what was very much a varied autumn of weather. Mild south to south-westerly winds through the first half of the month gave way to chillier easterly winds for a time just after mid-month. Milder southerlies then returned towards the end of the month, bringing some wet and windy spells of weather.
Mean temperatures were near to the seasonal average through November 2018. There were some night frosts though, with those mostly occurring after mid-month. The lowest temperature of the month was -5.3C, recorded at Shap, in Cumbria on the morning of Monday 26th November. Cumbria also experienced the highest temperature of the month with 15.5C at St Bees Head on Sunday 18th November.
It was a rather dull month overall with total sunshine hours of around only 48 hours, about 80% of the November average. Despite this, rainfall amounts were also a little below normal for November with about 100mm falling through the month compared to the 30-year average of 125mm. The wettest day occurred early in the month with 40mm of rainfall at St Bees Head in the 24 hours to 6pm on Sunday 3rd November.
While November was not a particularly stormy month overall, there were a few windy days. Most notably, Storm Diana (as named by the Portuguese weather service) moved in from the Azores Islands in the Atlantic on Wednesday 28th bringing strong winds to North West England. A wind gust of 66mph was recorded at Shap, in Cumbria and 54mph at Blackpool, Lancashire.
A look ahead
Looking further ahead, the unsettled end to November could be a sign of things to come in December. In previous years when there were very mixed weather conditions through autumn, as we have experienced this year, along with similar sea surface temperature patterns over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the following Decembers often ended up being wet. Indeed, the latest long-range computer models are in good agreement, predicting December to often be influenced by weather systems moving in from the Atlantic, bringing a wetter and windier month overall to the North West than November.
With winds blowing from the relatively mild Atlantic ocean on many days in December, this should bring about a milder than average month overall, with reduced frequency of frost and ice. Those of you hoping for a white Christmas could end up being disappointed! However, it’s still too early to say for certain what weather we will have on 25th December. Even in some of the mild Decembers of the past few decades, short-lived cold spells did crop up and even produce short spells of snow. So, a green Christmas is not guaranteed just yet!
In the event of an unexpected power cut you can contact Electricity North West 24/7 on the free national number 105 or call 0800 195 4141 or let us know on Twitter or Facebook.
If you need extra support, sign-up to our Priority Services Register. To discover more about the extra support on offer watch our Priority Service video here.
