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Hot - but wet - in the Dales in 2006

From the archive, first published Thursday 4th Jan 2007.

PRELIMINARY figures released by weather experts have revealed 2006 was the sixth warmest year on record - and Skipton followed that trend.

Using data from January to November, figures released by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia show the year was the sixth warmest since 1850.

Across Craven, temperatures soared to more than 90 degrees fahrenheit (32.2 degrees centigrade) in July, with Look North weatherman Paul Hudson telling television viewers a new record had been set in Skipton on July 18.

Local weather watcher Allan Furness recorded temperatures of 93 degrees fahreinheit (33.8 degrees centigrade) on July 17 and 18. He said 2006 was the warmest year Skipton had experienced for the past decade.

Another weather watcher, Ian Cuthbert, confirmed temperatures in Kettlewell had peaked at 91.8 degrees fahrenheit (33.2 centigrade) on July 18.

Mr Cuthbert has been checking rainfall and relaying information to the Environment Agency and the Met Office for the past 20 years, after moving into a home with a rainfall station.

He said: "December was the wettest month in Kettlewell in 2006. We have had 1,264mm of rain for the year and, if anything, that is below the longer term average of 1,500mm.

"I generally feel it has been a lot warmer. People go on about global warming, but the temperature goes up and goes back down again. I personally feel people are going over the top over the environment."

Mr Furness's Skipton rainfall figures were slightly lower, with 1,111 millimetres of rain in the year. December was the wettest month with 201mm, the first time there had been more than 200mm in one month since August 2004.

Dr John Farrer, of Clapham, has been weather watching in the village for the past 45 years and uses a thermometer and rain gauge. He records the weather to help the frozen pea trade. The vegetables grow at six degrees and unusually they have flourished in November and December, but are still being produced this month.

Dr Farrer said he had recorded warmer temperatures over the past six to eight years and added: "There is nothing particularly unusual about the weather, it is just the general trend."

In the UK, experts view the year as "remarkable", with the Central England Temperature (CET) setting a succession of records, including:

o The warmest month on record, set in July, with a mean temperature of 67.4 degrees fahreinheit (19.7 centigrade).

o The warmest ever September (62.2 degrees fahreinheit or 16.8 centigrade).

o The warmest ever autumn, with a mean temperature of 54.6 degrees fahreinheit (12.6 centigrade).