The next chapter in our annual reviews of weather moves on to 2008, a year which brought some wonderful surprises but also some terrible disappointments. The surprises included a heavy spring snowfall in the capital city of London and a good start to the summer. However, disappointments included a rapid decline in summer weather whereby the holiday months of July and August saw very few dry and warm days. It was also the year that the EOTS team returned to Florida to take on some afternoon tropical thunderstorms.

This section sums up the year for us, by displaying a number of photos from the most significant weather events we encountered during each month.

January 2008 - Warm & wet - mostly
The UK was dominated by west or south-westerly winds for a good part of January, resulting in a mild and often wet month. Rain was always heaviest in northern and western parts of the country but even in the south-east, there were a series of heavy rains. One such downpour took the River Mole in Surrey to breaking point. Our photograph below shows the Mole through the town of Leatherhead. Just a couple of days earlier, the river level was very close to the top of the arches, where it piled up trees and branches against the bridge. There were some colder, settled periods during the month too, which saw occasional frosts develop. The second two images show the morning after the night before, with needles of hoar frost sitting deep on car bodywork, and on fallen leaves in the North Downs.

February 2008 - High pressure highlights
The month couldn't have differed more spectacularly from January, with low pressure departing to leave the UK in the grip of high pressure for a good part of the month. Conditions were dry and settled for a number of weeks although the weather type gradually shifted as time went on. In the sunshine, it was initially very warm for the time of year but as the air stagnated, frost and fog became more of a feature, the fog not shifting all day in some areas. With increasingly cold air aloft, an unusually feature became apparent between 18th and 20th of the month. Normally seen closer to the poles, stratospheric clouds meandered their way slowly across the UK, trapped within the anticyclone. Whilst invisible during the daytime, they lit up in spectacular fashion during the evenings and mornings, making for sunsets and sunrises which made the national press. The first image below shows one such sunrise from the summit of Box Hill in Surrey, with fog trapped in the valley below. The second photo shows another view of the fog in the Mole Valley, which was freezing in places, leading to rime ice and frost. A timelapse video of the sunrise and fog can be found in our video section.

March 2008- Ark requirements
After February's break in the weather, March would see a return of very unsettled and very wet conditions. Whether in the form of heavy showers or longer spells of rain, most places received a good soaking at some point. On the 9th/10th, an unusually violent storm brought significant flooding and strong winds to south-western portions of the UK. As the first image shows below, this coincided with the Severn Bore, driving a wall of water into the Bristol Channel and inland to Gloucester. We've put together a documentary video as we followed the bore upstream, in our video section. Heavy showers made their way across the UK, some with thunder. The second image below shows a weak thunderstorm as it crossed north-east Surrey. It produced a suspect lowering which was observed to rotate as it disappeared over the hillside. The final image below sees a return to the River Mole after further heavy rain. This time it burst its banks with ease, flooding surrounding land. The flooding was mild here in Leatherhead, but in the surrounding countryside, vast tracts of farmland disappeared beneath the water.

April 2008 - Hurrah for the snow!
The month began in spectacular fashion as warm conditions were swept aside by a vigorous northerly flow. A line of snow moved southwards across just about the whole country during the night of the 5th, arriving in the south-east early on the 6th. This provided south-east England with some of the heaviest snowfall in years. We measured 10cm of level snow in Leatherhead although some areas had more. The first three images below show our journey home from London after a night shift as the snow accumulated in a surprisingly short space of time. The rest of the month was dominated mostly by unsettled and showery conditions, and with the heat of early spring beginning to add more energy to the system, the showers were often heavy and thundery. The 4th and 5th images below show some of these showers, with an impressive anvil in north Wales and amazing mammatus on the underside of a thunderstorm in London.

June 2008 - Not a lot to write home about
June will go down as forgettable across the south-east of England. In general, there was a lot of dry weather around but often a lot of cloud and it wasn't especially warm. Other parts of the UK, especially the north-west, saw plenty of rain and strong winds but it was much quieter in the south-east. As a result, weather photography was thin on the ground, and comprised mainly of landscape shots during the sunny spells, such as those below. The first image shows a view from the Seven Sisters in East Sussex, during a typically bright but cloudy day. The second image was a scene right out of the south of France, except the view is over Denbies Winery in Surrey during a sunny day.

July 2008- UK storms and Stateside chasing
The start of July saw the EOTS team return to Florida for another session of storm chasing in the Sunshine State. Once again, the trip was a roaring success, with too many storms to count and lots of weather action. The first few images below show just a small selection of some of the action we caught up with. For a full photographic report visit our chase section and for a feature length video of the chase highlights, visit our video section. However, there was plenty of storm action to keep us amused back in the UK for the remainder of the month. One such stormy day saw almost Floridan-style 'popcorn' storms light up across southern England. The last couple of photos below show some scenes from these storms, including bubbling convection and a marked gust front.

August 2008 - Stormy summer continues
The unsettled and rather cloudy summer continued through August, with persistent depressions bringing rain or showers across the country. There was precious little sunshine which only added to the poor feel of things. There were some sunny spells around though, and on the first day of the month, hazy sunshine came through just in time to witness the partial eclipse, as seen in the first image below. Towards the middle of August, there was a very temporary Spanish Plume episode which brought warm conditions into the south-east corner. No sooner had it arrived, it had gone but it went with a bang. As the second image below shows, a line of nasty thunderstorms moved north across the south-east corner and we chased the storms into the night, getting some great lightning shots. Right at the end of the month, the EOTS team were in Devon for the Dartmouth Regatta. The weather was dry but it was very humid, producing misty low cloud. The Typhoon fighter jet was pulling some turns over Dartmouth, and the moist atmosphere was creating water as the plane passed by. The last image below shows clouds condensing over the Typhoon's wings.

September 2008 - Summer sun & floods
We were still camping in Devon during the first few days of September. As the first image below shows, the weather was beautiful. We even had some warm sunshine and an overnight thunderstorm to keep us amused. However, by day 5 of our trip the weather took a turn for the worst. The rain came down and simply didn't stop, essentially flooding us out, as the second image shows. This sent us scurrying home ahead of time. We returned home to Surrey to find ourselves amidst more torrential downpours. One such storm on the 6th brought flooding to the centre of town, and as shown in the third image, some cars were stranded by water over 2ft deep in places. The middle of September saw high pressure dominating with a return of a late summer. It was warm and sunny - significantly better than at any point during July or August. The fourth image is taken at Winkworth Aboretum in Surrey, with azure blue sky and lots of sunshine. It became cooler again towards the end of the month.

October 2008 - Autumn warmth then autumn snow
October began rather cool and unsettled with several fronts bringing rain to all. However, by mid month, high pressure across the south of the UK brought some very warm and sunny weather, with 23C recorded in the south-east on the 12th. This allowed autumn leaf colour to really explode through the week to follow. The two images below show this wonderful orange autumn on Ranmore Common in Surrey, part of the North Downs. Just two weeks later, in the last week of October, winter arrived rudely and abruptly. An extremely rare October Arctic blast sent bitterly cold air tumbling across the UK, resulting in night frosts and cold days. Not only this, but it was an unstable northerly with snow falling in many areas. Parts of southern England saw their most significant October snowfall in 70 years on the night of the 28th-29th. Over an inch fell in hillier areas whilst, in our town of Leatherhead, around half a centimetre dusting of snow on the cars and grass greeted morning commuters. The last two photos show this dusting of snow in Leatherhead which, despite it's small amount, lasted for 48hrs due to the very low tempeatures.

November 2008 - Autumn into winter
The month began rather chilly and cloudy, with no real photogenic weather going on in the south-east of the UK. Into the second week, we spent a short break in north Wales just as the weather began to come in from a westerly direction, which is a classic for sunshine and showers. The first image below show our trip to World's End near Llangollen, and we managed to capture a rainbow briefly over the cliffs. Autumn was still in full swing and the trees were giving a magnificent display. The second image below shows some glowing pine trees near Llangollen, surrounding their neighbouring evergreens. After a mild period mid-month, winds began to come in from a more northerly direction leading to a much colder last week or so. Night frosts were common even in the south of England, as shown in the third image below, with needles of hoar frost spidering their way across our car. On the 23rd of November, a widespread snowfall event affected large parts of the UK, including central and southern England, as milder air attempted to come in from the west. It even snowed in Central London, as shown on the fourth image, although amounts were small compared to other parts of the UK. This was the second snowfall in London in quick succession, the first being in October, and it wasn't even winter yet!

December 2008 - Lots of cold but no white Christmas
The first few days of December were unsettled and cold across southern areas, with rain at times. Where any clear skies persisted overnight it became very icy. The first image below shows one such icy morning after a fall of rain the evening before, and the patterns on car roofs were quite impressive. It remained cold into the second week as high pressure built across the southern UK and this allowed another session of night time frosts, together with freezing fog. The second and third images below show the EOTS team visiting the Clwydian Mountain Range in north-east Wales. Frost and shallow fog was evident in the valleys below but the cold, crystal clear air made for spectacular visibility, and as the photos show, the Snowdonian mountain range looked as if it was on our doorstep, despite being 50km away. Towards the end of the second week of the month, the flood gates opened for mild Atlantic air to surge in from the west, and this would last for some time, bringing wind and rain across the UK. The fourth image below shows a view on the Horseshoe Pass in north-east Wales, as low cloud began to clear leaving behind a very local rainbow! The last ten days of the month saw high pressure building across the south of the UK, and an area of high pressure that would go on to dominate the weather into 2009. This brought much colder conditions across the UK, with widespread night frosts and freezing fog. Despite the cold conditions, Christmas was largely green!

Will 2009 be a weather year to beat 2008? Here's hoping......

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