JANUARY 1996
 | A daily summary |
1996 Day 1974-95 1996 Day 1974-95
Mean Max Temperature 6.5 5.7 Highest Max temp 8.8 9 10.7
Mean Min Temperature 4.9 3.0 Lowest Min temp -0.2 25 -4.5
Mean Sea Temperature 7.7 7.0 Lowest grass minimum -2.6 26 -10.2
30 cm Earth temperature 5.4 4.6 Days with ground frost 2 11.9
100cm Earth temperature 6.1 5.6 Days with air frost 1 5.2
Total Rainfall (mm) 27.5 105.0 Days with snow/sleet 5 14.4
Wettest Day (mm) 5.7 11 15.4 Days snow cover 09hr 1 5.1
Rain Days (> 0.1mm) 18 26.0 Days with hail 11 14.9
Wet Days (> 0.9mm) 9 19.8 Days fog during 24hrs 1 3.5
Total sunshine, hrs 16.3 26.4 Days with fog at 09hrs 0 0.5
Sunniest day, hrs 4.0 29 4.3 Days with NIL sun 22 14.1
Mean wind speed, kts 21.7 21.5 Days with gale 5 12.3
Maximum gust, kts 57 6 78.7 Days with thunder 0 1.2
Mean Sea Level pressure 1014.4 1004.9 Days with aurora 1 3.9
Wind Direction%
North 0.0 10.8 S. West 3.2 17.4
N. East 3.2 5.5 West 0.0 20.2
East 12.9 7.9 N. West 0.0 10.2
S. East 58.1 9.8
South 22.6 18.1 CALM 0.0 1.3
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Weather Diary
January 1996
1| Cloudy and dry at first, then rain, snow and snow pellet showers early afternoon. Drizzle by end of period. Becoming milder, with the temperature around 4 Celsius, and a slow thaw continuing - although the ground remains relatively dry due to the low relative humidity (60-70%). Snow cover less than 50% by 1200 UTC. Wind SE'E F6. Visibility 30 km overnight falling to 15 km by early afternoon.
2| Rain and drizzle most of period - moderate at times overnight. No snow lying around the station by the end of the morning. A damp, misty day with the visibility around 10 km and low stratus. The wind, SE'E F6 at first veering SE overnight and SSE during the afternoon.
3| Some light drizzle overnight, then a cloudy, dry and hazy day with the visibility around 15 km. The wind F7 S'E to SSE overnight increased gale F8 1000-1037, 1105-1125, 1145-1237 UTC. Very few snow patches remain on the Hill. 1430 UTC: Sea temperature 8.0 Celsius.
4| A cloudy day with low stratus. Dry at first with the visibility 15 km, but outbreaks of rain and drizzle 1137-1830 UTC reduced the visibility to 5000 m later in the afternoon. The wind, S'ly F7 at first, backing SE during the afternoon. Mild.
5| Outbreaks rain and drizzle until early afternoon. A very gloomy day with low stratus and visibility 3000 m to 6 km. The wind remaining SE F7. Becoming a little cooler by the end of the period with the temperature falling from 7 to 5 Celsius.
6| A dry day - apart from a little light drizzle during the morning. Continuing cloudy and hazy with the visibility improving to 10 km to 15 km overnight, but then falling to 8 km to 10 km. The wind continuing SE F7, but increasing gale F8 1100-1200, and from 1630 UTC - gusting to 57 knots during the evening. Cooler than of late with the temperature around 5 Celsius.
7| The gale ceased 0410 UTC. Overnight - as the wind backed SE'E and eased F7 it temporarily turned noticeably cooler with the temperature falling to 3 to 4 Celsius. There were several early light wintry showers of small hail, snow pellets and rain - dying out later in the morning. From soon after midday there were outbreaks of rain and drizzle - moderate during the afternoon - with the 8 km to 15 km visibility falling to 4000 m. The precipitation had ceased by end of period with the visibility improving to 8 km. The SE F7 increasing gale F8 1730-1830 UTC. Temperature increasing to 6 Celsius during the evening.
8| A cloudy day - thin enough during the morning to allow some sunshine resulting in Fair Isle being the sunniest place in the UK with 2.4 hours sunshine. Cloud then thickening during the afternoon. The wind, SE F5 at first, veering S by 0600 UTC and soon increasing F6-7. Later in the morning the wind backed SE - increasing gale F8 1450-1500, and from 2300 UTC. Visibility 20 km at first, but falling to 15 km in the morning, and to 6 km in outbreaks of drizzle or rain and drizzle later in the evening.
9| Gale until 0110, and also 0205-0237 UTC, the SE to SE'S wind then easing F6-7. Overnight rain and drizzle dying out by 0800 UTC. Remaining cloudy and misty with low stratus and a visibility of 3500 m to 6 km. Further outbreaks of light drizzle for a time during the afternoon before becoming dry later in the evening. A mild day with the temperature around 8 Celsius.
10| SE'S F6-7 wind veering S F5-6 overnight. A dry, mild day with cloud broken for much of the time - lenticular stratocumulus forming in the fresh to strong S'ly wind. Visibility 15 km. Cloud clearing completely at times during the evening - but no aurora visible. Wind easing S'ly F4 by the end of the period.
11| Dry overnight with the S'ly F4 backing SE. Occasional outbreaks of light rain from 0730z. SE wind increasing F5 later in the morning - and occasionally F6 later in the afternoon. Visibility 15 km to 20 km falling to 8 km for a time in the evening in persistent drizzle.
12| Rain - moderate at times overnight with the wind SE'E F5 increasing F7 by 0700 UTC. Continuing dull and overcast with rain during the morning - the visibility falling to 8 km. Extensive low stratus and drizzle resulted in misty conditions by late morning with the visibility falling to 1000 m - and fog for a time between 1200 and 1300 UTC. Some improvement later in the afternoon as the precipitation turned intermittent, the cloud base lifted and the visibility improved to 10 km.
13| Remaining cloudy with further rain and drizzle and extensive low stratus overnight. During the morning the rain was moderate in intensity at times before turning to drizzle and becoming intermittent by early afternoon. The SE F7 wind quickly eased just before midday - to be F2-3 by early afternoon. As it did so the stratus base feel - resulting in fog 1500-1520 UTC. The wind then veered SW F3-4 and the low stratus began to disperse, with some gaps visible to the S'SW in the higher stratocumulus layer. During the evening this cloud layer cleared almost completely - with a moderate aurora glow visible to the north at 2355 UTC. By this time the wind had backed S F4.
14| Cloud increasing overnight with the wind backing SE and freshening F6 by 0600z. Visibility 20 km, falling to 6 km by midday with increasing low stratus. Outbreaks of rain and drizzle from 1410 UTC, with the visibility falling further to 5000 m for a time before later improving to 10 km as the precipitation ceased.
15| High cloud thickening overnight, with 15 km visibility and the wind continuing SE F5-6. After 0800 UTC, as the wind increased F7, stratus cloud quickly spread and the visibility began to fall - reducing to 3500 m by midday. The afternoon was misty, with extensive low stratus and outbreaks of rain and drizzle for a time. As the precipitation ceased the wind veered to be S'E by 1500 UTC. The wind then began to ease - becoming SSW to SW F4 by evening.
16| A dry and cloudy day. Overnight the visibility improved to 20 km. During the late morning and early afternoon the lower cloud became sufficiently broken to give some intervals of weak sunshine. A mild day with the wind SW F4-5 overnight and through the morning, then easing F2-3 and backing SSW during the afternoon before backing further into the SE and slowly increasing to be F4 by the end of the period.
17| Outbreaks of rain and drizzle - moderate at times - overnight and during the morning. Becoming dry by 1500 UTC. Further rain and drizzle for a time in the evening, the cloud then clearing by the end of the period. Continuing mild and hazy with the F5-6 SSE'ly wind easing F5 S'E during the morning and F4-5 in the afternoon.
18| Overnight the cloud cleared completely to give a fine, mild night with 15 km visibility and a F5 S'E'ly wind. Between 0900 UTC and 1000 UTC, as the wind increased SSE F5-6, low stratus spread in. By midday the visibility had fallen to 3000 m, with 3000 m to 6 km in the afternoon and evening. Wind increasing SSE F6-7 during the afternoon. At 1600 UTC an aircraft reported 'some' icing at FL60.
19| Cloudy, dry and hazy overnight with the visibility 5 km to 8 km and the wind SSE F7 easing F5-6. Some outbreaks of light drizzle by the end of the morning with the wind backing SE and increasing F6. A dull afternoon with outbreaks of drizzle and rain and drizzle - the wind increasing F7 and backing SE'E by evening. Further light drizzle during the evening. Becoming a little cooler with the temperature falling to 5.6 Celsius by the end of the period.
20| A cloudy day with outbreaks of light rain and drizzle throughout the period. Wind SE'ly F6-7 and slowly becoming a little cooler and the air drier. Visibility 12 km, but falling to 6 km in precipitation.
21| Continuing cloudy with some overnight drizzle and the wind SE'ly F6. By 0900 UTC the wind had backed to between ESE and SE'E, easing F5 during the morning. During the day it became a little cooler with the precipitation turning showery - with some snow pellets. The visibility also improved from 8 km to 25 km.
22| Continuing cloudy with frequent light wintry showers of rain, snow pellets and snow grains. Cold, with a F5-6 ESE to SE'E wind and the temperature between 3 and 4 Celsius. Visibility 15 km to 20 km. 1300 UTC: Sea temperature 7.7 Celsius.
23| Cloudy and dry - apart from a snow pellet shower 1840-1900 UTC. Visibility 15 km to 20 km. Wind SE'E to SE F6 steadily easing F4-5 by evening.
24| Continuing cloudy with scattered showers of rain and snow overnight. The day was then dry - though with adjacent showers visible for much of the time - until scattered sleet showers affected the isle from 1600 UTC. The wind was SE to SE'E F5-6 at first, backing ESE to E'S during the evening. Visibility 20 km throughout the period.
25| Showers of snow pellets and snow becoming frequent overnight, leading to some accumulation from time to time, but always less than half cover except briefly around 0910 UTC. Further snow showers during the morning - moderate at times, reducing the visibility to 800 m 0902-0910 UTC and 1140-1145 UTC. Visibility generally 10 km to 20 km. The showers died out for a while during the afternoon - with small breaks in the cloud giving brief glimpses of the sun (nothing recorded) - as the low cumulonimbus (CL=9) of the morning gave way to towering cumulus (CL=2). After 1700 UTC further scattered showers of snow and small hail developed -continuing during the evening. Feeling cold in the F6 E'S to SE'E'ly wind - despite daytime temperature of around 2 to 3 Celsius.
26| A few more showers of snow and snow pellets, mostly dying out during the morning - with just one light snow pellet shower late in the afternoon. The wind, E'S F4-5 at first, had backed E'ly F4 overnight. During the afternoon a further slow backing to NE took place with the early visibility of 20 km improving to 30 km and the humidity falling to below 60%.
27| Dry overnight, but a few scattered showers of snow pellets and rain during the morning, followed by a dry afternoon with the cloud gradually breaking to give some sunny spells. Long clear spells during the evening. Visibility 25 km to 30 km. A slightly milder day than of late with the temperature rising to around 5 Celsius. The wind NE F4 at first slowly veering to be F4 E'S by evening. 1330 UTC: Sea temperature 7.5 Celsius. Another day with dry air - the RH as low as 50%.
28| Clear overnight, but high cloud increasing during the morning thickened to altostratus in the afternoon. A dry day with the visibility improving from 30 km to 40 km during the morning. Wind ESE, veering SE'E during the morning.
29| The day began cloudy with variable amounts of low cloud but a medium level overcast.. This thinned and broke during the morning to give a sunny afternoon - though with a few light rain showers around mid-afternoon. The evening was dry. Visibility 40 km, improving to 50 km by the afternoon. Wind ESE to SE'E F3.
30| A generally cloudy day, with scattered rain showers - with some small hail in the early afternoon. A dry evening. Wind E to ESE F3, occasionally F4 during the afternoon. Visibility 30 km to 50 km.
31| Another cloudy day - dry at first, but rain and snow, and snow pellet showers developing during the afternoon. Further light sleet showers in the evening, with the temperature falling from the 4 or 5 Celsius of the past few days to 2 to 3 Celsius. Wind SE'E veering S'E by evening - increasing F4 overnight and F5 at times in the evening. Visibility 40 km to 50 km. 1430 UTC: Sea temperature 7.4 Celsius.
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