If a prize were awarded for the dullest month, weatherwise, November would surely be the runaway winner. As the 19th century poet Thomas Hood sardonically wrote:
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds,
No-vember.
But meteorologists might disagree. November is on average the wettest month in England and Wales, with a shade more rainfall than December or January, and four out of five of the wettest months since records began in the 18th century.
November can bring extreme weather, too. November 1919 was the coldest on record, with the temperatures in Scotland plummeting to a record low for that month of minus 23C, thanks to a stream of freezing air from the Arctic.
As the climate changes, we are perhaps likely to see more heatwaves than freeze-ups. Indeed the Guardian letters page frequently features flowers blooming unseasonably at this time of year.
But beware: according the Victorian weather lore collector Richard Inwards, “Flowers in bloom late in autumn indicates a bad winter”, as does rising water, while thunder indicates that the following year will be a fertile one.
The plethora of saints’ days in November is also fertile ground for long-term forecasts, including the view that hard weather on 11 November (Martinmas) presages a mild winter: “If the geese at Martin’s Day stand on ice, they will walk in mud at Christmas.”
