This report describes the historical weather record at the Gloucestershire Airport (Staverton, United Kingdom) during 1981. This station has records back to October 1977.
Staverton has a mild humid temperate climate with warm summers and no dry season. The area within 25 mi of this station is covered by croplands (95%) and built-up areas (2%)
Daylight saving time (DST) was observed at Staverton during 1981. There were two time changes during 1981:
1981 was not a leap year, so it has 365 days and no February 29th. The first leap year before 1981 was 1980 and the first after was 1984.
The summer and winter solstices and the spring and fall equinoxes mark the passing of the seasons. They fall on nearly the same day each year, with differences of a day or two depending on the year. In 1981 they occurred on:
|Spring Equinox||Friday, 20 March 1981.|
|Summer Solstice||Sunday, 21 June 1981.|
|Fall Equinox||Wednesday, 23 September 1981.|
|Winter Solstice||Monday, 21 December 1981.|
The hottest day of 1981 was November 27, with a high temperature of 50°F. For reference, on that day the average high temperature is 48°F and the high temperature exceeds 55°F only one day in ten. The hottest month of 1981 was November with an average daily high temperature of 46°F.
Relative to the average, the hottest day was November 27. The high temperature that day was 50°F, compared to the average of 48°F, a difference of 2°F. In relative terms the warmest month was November, with an average high temperature of 46°F, compared to an typical value of 52°F.
The month of January had the largest fraction of warmer than average days with 6% days with higher than average high temperatures.
The coldest day of 1981 was December 16, with a low temperature of 23°F. For reference, on that day the average low temperature is 37°F and the low temperature drops below 29°F only one day in ten. The coldest month of 1981 was December with an average daily low temperature of 32°F.
Relative to the average, the coldest day was December 16. The low temperature that day was 23°F, compared to the average of 37°F, a difference of 14°F. In relative terms the coldest month was October, with an average low temperature of 42°F, compared to an typical value of 51°F.
The month of January had the largest fraction of cooler than average days with 10% days with lower than average low temperatures.
This station did not reliably report the cloud coverage during1981 but there is enough reported data to warrant the inclusion of the following graphs.
This station provides hourly reports of significant weather events at and around the station, but does not report the quantity of precipitation at the station itself. This is common for weather stations located outside of the United States, and for a small subset of stations in the United States that are located at lesser used and smaller airports.
This station reports when significant weather events (including precipitation) are visually observed at or near the station. Such events do not always correspond to measured quantities of liquid equivalent precipitation, such as when the event is near by not at the station, or in the case of solid precipitation that does not melt in the collection basin.
The day in 1981 with the most precipitation observations was December 30. There were 6 hourly weather reports that day (out of a maximum of 24) in which some form of precipitation was observated at or near the station. The month with the most precipitation observations was December, with 13 hourly present weather reports involving some form of precipitation.
As determined by the present weather reports, the longest dry spell was from January 15 to October 20, constituting 279 consecutive days with no observed precipitation. The months February, March, April, May, June, July, August, and September were completely without observed precipitation.
The month with the largest fraction of days with at least some observed precipitation was December, with 16% of days reporting some observed precipitation.
Either snow is exceptionally rare at this location or this station did not reliably report it during 1981.
Humidity is an important factor in determining how weather conditions feel to a person experiencing them. Hot and humid days feel even hotter than hot and dry days because the high level of water content in humid air discourages the evaporation of sweat from a person's skin.
When reading the graph below, keep in mind that the hottest part of the day tends to be the least humid, so the daily low (brown) traces are more relevant for understanding daytime comfort than the daily high (blue) traces, which typically occur during the night. Applying that observation, the least humid month of 1981 was November with an average daily low humidity of 99%, and the most humid month was March with an average daily low humidity of 100%.
But it is important to keep in mind that humidity does not tell the whole picture and the dew point is often a better measure of how comfortable a person will find a given set of weather conditions. Please see the next section for continued discussion of this point.
Dew point is the temperature below which water vapor will condense into liquid water. It is therefore also related to the rate of evaporation of liquid water. Since the evaporation of sweat is an important cooling mechanism for the human body, the dew point is an important measurement for understanding how dry, comfortable, or humid a given set of weather conditions will feel.
Generally speaking, dew points below 50°F will feel a bit dry to some people, but comfortable to people accustomed to dry conditions; dew points from 50°F to 68°F are fairly comfortable to most people, and dew points above 68°F are increasingly uncomfortable, becoming oppressive around 77°F.
To take some examples, and basing our categorization on the daily high dew point in 1981, January had 6 dry days, no comfortable days, and no humid days; April had no dry days, no comfortable days, and no humid days; July had no dry days, no comfortable days, and no humid days; and October had 1 dry day, no comfortable days, and no humid days.
The highest sustained wind speed was 29 mph, occurring on January 3; the highest daily mean wind speed was 26 mph (January 3); and the highest wind gust speed was 44 mph (December 20).
The windiest month was February, with an average wind speed of 11 mph. The least windy month was October, with an average wind speed of 6 mph.
This station did not reliably report the visibility during 1981.
The cloud ceiling is the altitude of the lowest layer of clouds that are at categorized as broken (mostly cloudy) or overcast (cloudy). If no such cloud layer exists then the ceiling is unlimited and no value is reported.
The day of 1981 with the lowest average cloud ceiling was January 31, with an average cloud ceiling of 98'. The month with the lowest average cloud ceiling was October, with an average cloud ceiling of 1739'. The month of December has the highest average cloud ceiling, with an average cloud ceiling of 5040'.