Apologies for an incomplete set of records for this month. First of all, the temperature guage took an exception to the New Year and started giving rather spurious results, as in daily temperatures of 59 to 620C! Then on the night of the 7th to 8th came the BIG STORM. We recorded around 125 mm (5 inches) of rain in little more than 24 hours up to 615 am on the morning of the 8th when the wind hit its peak. Although we recorded a peak gust of 58 mph at around that time, nothing especially unusual, something far mightier clearly hit us soon after. Even our bed was shaking, and it is estimated that the wind hit close to 100 mph in Keswick.
One consequence of this was that the weather station was blown off the roof, and though it continued to send data despite falling around 50 feet, the wind vane was smashed - hence no further wind record from that date. The station was set up again at ground level later in the day and sent off for repair later in the month to be reinstalled on the roof (once the wind and rain had died away!) on the 10th February.
The damage in the county was considerable with around 500,000 trees uprooted, extensive flooding especially in Carlisle but also here in Keswick. For the first time in over 50 years Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake were joined as one with the levels of the River Greta and Derwentwater rising several feet above their usual maximum. All is more or less back to normal now but the damage to the trees will be with us for some time to come. An exciting time for all!
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Design and © Barry Colam