SYNOPSIS OF FAIR ISLE'S WEATHER IN 1997

January
Normally a very stormy month, this was Fair Isle's calmest January on record. The monthly mean wind speed of 14.0 kt is a value to be expected only during the summer months. Unlike the rest of the UK, it was a mild month. Also dry and sunny it was not at all a typical winter month for Fair Isle! Despite having only a little over half the normal rainfall for the month the 11^th was the wettest day of the year with rainfall for the 24 hours of 27.0 mm.
Fair Isle: Rain 57.6%, sun 148.5%, mean temp. +1.0° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.4° Celsius, (compared with the 1974-96 average).
UK: A cold month in places – especially over S. Britain. Exceptionally dry over the whole of the British Isles. Generally sunny except Central England where it was dull. Unusually calm, with a notable absence of gales.

February
On Fair Isle February is often cold, settled and the 'calmest' of the winter months. This month was the very opposite – mild, unsettled and very windy. Gales were more frequent than for any previous February with the years highest gust of 72 kt recorded late on the 19^th and again early on the 20^th. Despite it being a very wet month sunshine totals were, surprisingly, slightly above average.
Fair Isle: Rain 186.4%, sun 103.8%, mean temp. +0.8° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.3° Celsius.
UK: Mild and often windy. Wet in many areas, but dry in the east. Dull in the south, quite sunny over the North.

Winter (December – February)
A mild, snowless winter – just one day, in December, with lying snow.
Fair Isle: Rain 84.8%, sun 124.5%, mean temp. +0.2° Celsius, mean sea temp.+0.4.
UK: Cold and dry. Snowfall was insignificant across lowland Britain.

March
With winds frequently from the south-west, Fair Isle experienced a very mild, dull and wet March. A pressure rise of 11.5 mb/3 hr was recorded at 1800 UTC on the 2^nd, while a pressure fall of 11.0 mb/3 hr was recorded at 0800 UTC on the 26th.
Fair Isle: Rain 145.9%, sun 84.7%, mean temp. +1.1° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.8° Celsius.
UK: Mild, dry and virtually snow-free. Quite sunny, except in the far north and west of Britain.

April
The month was dull and wet with near average temperatures. While rainfall was well above average this was as a result of a few wet days - rather than a persistently wet month. After mid-month it turned unsettled and decidedly cool with snow, sleet and hail. On the 19th, together with Lerwick, Fair Isle was the coldest place in the UK - reporting a daytime maximum temperature of 5.9° Celsius. On the 22nd our maximum temperature was only 3.3° Celsius, but Sella Ness was the coldest place in the UK with a maximum of only 2.6° Celsius! On the 23rd and 24th the most vigorous depression of the month crossed Scotland - giving Fair Isle its wettest day of the month on the 23rd (21.6 mm) and a NE'ly gale on the 24th. The next few days saw the Azores high building north bringing a mild - though foggy - end to the month.
Fair Isle: Rain 149.7%, sun 63.8%, mean temp. +0.2° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.4° Celsius.
UK: Dry virtually everywhere – very dry and sunny in parts of the South. Dull in the North. Rather warm right across the British Isles.

May
A wet and dull month on Fair Isle - unlike Lerwick, a mere 50 miles to the north, which reported a sunny and dry month! The 25^th was the wettest day of the month in both places - Lerwick with 17.2 mm and Fair Isle with 17.0 mm. While Lerwick no doubt enjoyed their 172.4 hours of sunshine (117.3% of their long-term average 147 hours) - virtually identical with Fair Isle's 172.8 hours - we were disappointed not to get our normally sunny May! However, Lerwick could only manage a mere 12.3 hours for their sunniest day (10th) against our 14.8 hours (23rd). Both places recorded a slightly cooler than average month with mean temperatures of 7.3° Celsius at Lerwick and 7.5° Celsius for Fair Isle. Under the influence of a cold N’ly airstream the 5^th saw the lowest temperature of the year with a minimum of –0.8° Celsius.
Fair Isle: Rain 156.7%, sun 87.1%, mean temp. -0.3° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.0° Celsius.
UK: Wet in many areas, but dry in the South-East. Temperatures and sunshine near average almost everywhere.

Spring (March – May)
Fair Isle: Rain 149.5%, sun 78.8%, mean temp. +0.4° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.4° Celsius.
UK: Warm, dry and sunny.

June
The month was one of short spells of contrasting weather types, with frequent north or easterly winds accompanying the cyclonic spells. Though it was a disappointingly dull month, with only six days having sunshine totals into double figures, the 4^th was the sunniest day of the year with 15.8 hours of bright sunshine.
Fair Isle: Rain 98.8%, sun 88.6%, mean temp. –0.1° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.4° Celsius.
UK: Wet, or exceptionally wet over the South and east of Britain, but dry over many parts of West and North Scotland. Dull almost everywhere with near average temperatures.

July
With fog reported at some time during the twenty-four hours on every day except the 27th this was the foggiest month ever recorded on Fair Isle! During the month visibility was less than 1000 metres for a total of 282 hours. It was a dry, rather cloudy month with near normal temperatures. The 22^nd was the warmest day of the year, when a maximum temperature of 17.0° Celsius was recorded.
Fair Isle: Rain 54.9%, sun 85.6%, mean temp. +0.8° Celsius, mean sea temp. +1.1° Celsius.
UK: Temperatures close to normal. Many areas dry, but with wide variations. Sunny across most of Britain.

August
On Fair Isle this was the warmest, sunniest and foggiest August on record! Rainfall was below average for the first three weeks but, during the last four days, two more or less equal overnight falls produced 28.6 mm and increased the total by 50% - resulting in near average rainfall for the month.
Fair Isle: Rain 101.1%, sun 142.5%, mean temp. +1.8° Celsius, mean sea temp. 1.7° Celsius.
UK: Very warm right across the British Isles with locally record breaking warmth. Exceptionally wet in the South-West where it was dull – otherwise sunny over much of the country.

Summer (June – August)
This was the foggiest summer recorded on Fair Isle with the visibility falling to less than 1000 metres at some time on 60 days during the three months.
Fair Isle: Rain 85.1%, sun 105.3%, mean temp. +0.8° Celsius, mean sea temp.+1.1.
UK: Temperatures near normal for early and mid-summer but a prolonged heatwave in August over the South-East. Rainfall amounts varied widely from dry to wet – with Fair Isle having the driest summer rainfall total of anywhere in the UK!! Sunshine totals near normal – a dull June compensated for with quite a sunny July and August

September
It was a mild and, despite winds frequently from a westerly direction, dry month in the Northern Isles. Being a little further north, and having less shelter from the Scottish mainland, Lerwick was a little wetter and only some 27% drier than average. Unlike Fair Isle, where the hours of sunshine were just above average, rather surprisingly Lerwick recorded sunshine some 20% above average. On the 17^th, while cold NW’ly winds resulted in a maximum of only 9.1° Celsius at Lerwick, Jersey – at the other end of the country and under the influence of the mild S'lies – saw the temperature reach a warm 23.8° Celsius. On the 19th, as the high drifted south-east across Scotland, Jersey reported a maximum of 28.9° Celsius - and Lerwick only 9.2° Celsius! By the 24^th, with light S to SW'ly winds, it was Scotland’s turn fto see the highest temps - with a maximum of 23.4° at Glenlivet. It was also a warm day in the Northern Isles with Fair Isle seeing the warmest day of the month with 15.1° Celsius.
Fair Isle: Rain 59.6%, sun 105.8%, mean temp. +0.7° Celsius, mean sea temp. +1.0° Celsius.
UK: Rather warm and sunny over most of Britain. Generally dry except in a few hilly areas.

October
Mean daily temperatures for October were very close to the long-term average of 8.9° Celsius. The statistics, however, hide a wide variation – the temperature during the month varying from some 3° above average on several occasions to as much as 5° below average during the third week of the month. Winds were lighter than is normal for October. Because of the wide variation in temperature it was not unexpected to find that there was a high frequency of both mild SW and colder NW winds. October, though a little wetter than September, was another dry month and, like September was also sunny.
Fair Isle: Rain 74.7%, sun 111.4%, mean temp. –0.2° Celsius, mean sea temp. +0.7° Celsius.
UK: Rather wet in the South-East otherwise generally dry. Cold over England and Wales, milder than average elsewhere. Sunny everywhere except over Ireland.

November
But for the 2.8 hours of sunshine recorded on the last day of the month, this would have been the dullest November ever recorded on Fair Isle. As it was we failed to beat the previous November record by just 20 minutes! Often during the two deepest winter months no sunshine will be recorded, despite the blue sky overhead, because a small amount of cloud on the southern horizon can easily hide the low sun. This month, with the average daily cloud amount of 90% - the highest ever recorded in any month - blue sky was very much at a premium! It was a very mild and also a slightly windier month than normal - with an extremely high frequency of SE'ly winds due to a persistent anticyclone over Scandinavia. Because of the 'blocking' effect resulting from this high, most of the weather systems that did manage to reach Fair Isle were, on the whole, fairly weak affairs and it was - despite the cloudy conditions - a dry month.
Fair Isle: Rain 75.7%, sun 45.3%, mean temp. +1.6° Celsius, mean sea temp +1.6° Celsius.
UK: Warmer than average, wet in many places and very dull except in the South-East where it was fairly sunny.

Autumn (September – November)
One of the mildest and driest autumns on record. The mean daily temperature of 9.4° Celsius was second only to the 9.6° Celsius of 1995, while only autumn 1993 - with 174.7 mm – was drier. The mean sea temperature of 11.7° Celsius easily topped the previous highest autumn figure of 11.2° Celsius measured in 1995. During the three month period there was only one ground frost – the least number ever recorded. Generally a little lighter than normal, winds were from a south-easterly direction more frequently than in any previous autumn. Sunshine totals were very near average.
Fair Isle: Rain 70.6%, sun 97.7%, mean temp. +0.7° Celsius, mean sea temp. +1.1.
UK: Mild overall, but sharp frosts near the end of October. A dry start, but ending wet. Sunshine totals mostly above average, but near average over northern areas