By Mike Trigger

Compared to average, October 2023 was warmer and wetter but with near average sunshine.

Weak weather fronts moved slowly across SW England during the first two days bringing a little rain, but soon after high pressure developed across northern France and the south of England bringing fine and quite warm weather for several days. On the 11th a cold front brought fresher NW winds for a time before low pressure moved in from the SW to bring heavy rain on the 12th and into the 13th. High pressure again developed across England bringing a few more dry days before weather fronts associated with storm Babet arrived on the 18th, producing another very wet day. The storm, initially to the west of Portugal, moved into Biscay and the English Chanel before merging into a large area of low pressure over England. This brought heavy rain, flooding and windy conditions to many parts of the UK over the next several days. Apart from a brief respite on the 22nd , rain fell on each day through to the end of the month as low pressure remained firmly in control of the weather.

In terms of statistics:

The temperature for the month averaged out between 13 and 14 Celsius, that's between 1 and 2 degrees Celsius above the long-term average. The warmest day was the 7th when temperatures widely reached 24 or 25 Celsius. Around the district many places had 5 or 6 days when afternoon temperatures exceeded 20 Celsius. The coldest morning was on the 15th when the temperature dropped to between 2 and 5 Celsius in most parts, although Netherton dipped to zero Celsius for that one morning. The 15th and in some places the 16th may have been just cold enough for a touch of frost, although due to the recently mild weather soil temperatures are likely to be quite high.

Rainfall totals in the Teignmouth and Dawlish area were mostly in the range from 130 to 160mm, which is well above the October average of around 95mm. There were 17 days when the rainfall total was 1mm or more, the average being 12 days. There were about 12 dry days, the average being 17 days. The highest rainfall total of between 18 and 25mm was on the 12th in most parts but in some places on the 18th.

There were several windy spells including the 13th, 16th, 17th and 18th of the month. Sunshine estimated at around 110 hours was near average for October. The sea temperature at the Dawlish wave buoy fell from 17 Celsius at the start of the month to 15 Celsius at the end.