Life imitates art far more than art imitates life - Oscar Wilde
This month's garden photo (Photo 1) was taken on the 5th January 2025 when we experienced a brief period of snowfall. When it wasn't snowing, we enjoyed the weak January sunshine despite the cold temperatures.
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| Photo 1: Snow on the 5th January 2025 |
The daily garden photos in January 2025 are collated in Video 1 ...
Video 1: Daily Photos of the Rear Garden in January 2025
Whereas the previous month (December 2024) was mild yet dull, January 2025 was cold yet sunny. January's weather stats from our Davis Weather Station are summarised in the table below ...
In contrast to frost-free December, we experienced subzero temperatures on more than 40% of the days in January (Figure 1). If daytime temperatures hadn't picked up towards the end of the month, we would have been in for a very cold month.
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| Figure 1: Min/Max Daily Temperatures for January 2025 |
On the bright side, we did see the sun this month (about 20% more than in December) which always heightens the spirits. Rain was largely restricted to the beginning and end of the month (Figure 2) and close to the average for this time of the year. Precipitation on the 5th/6th January fell as snow.
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| Figure 2: Daily Rainfall & Sunshine Data for January 2025 |
With six complete years of weather data from the Davis Weather Station, we can start looking for trends. It is still very messy data because of the short period of time but minimum and maximum daily temperatures both seem to be trending downwards albeit the effect on the mean daily temperature is less clear. Interestingly, 2022 had the highest daily mean and maximum temperatures as well as the most air frost (sub zero) days (Figure 3).
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| Figure 3: January 2025 Temperature Data (2020 - 2025) |
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| Figure 4: January Rain, Wind & Sunshine Trends (2020 - 2025) |
The following three figures are taken from the UK Met Office's Monthly Report for January 2025. December 2024's mean temperature anomaly map for the UK was all red/pink (hot) in complete contrast to this month which is all blue (cold). Herefordshire is marked by the black circle with the city of Hereford falling within the darker blue (colder) region (Figure 5).
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| Figure 5: UK Mean Temperature Anomalies for January 2025 |
Precipitation was close to, or slightly above, the long-term average (1991 - 2020) - see Figure 6. Credenhill Weather Station, located less than five miles away, reports the 1991-2020 mean January rainfall at 67.3 mm; this makes the recorded precipitation in our back garden 117% of this long-term average.
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| Figure 6: UK Rainfall (relative) for January 2025 |
Finally, UK sunshine hours are mapped out in Figure 7 with the city of Hereford falling within the 130-150% band. Our Davis Weather Station recorded the highest January sunshine hours for the last 6 years (110%); close but no cigar! Maybe, January has been getting sunnier over the last 30 years.
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| Figure 7: UK Sunshine Hours (relative) for January 2025 |
Jobs in the Garden
- Dug up last 6 kg potatoes along with last few beetroot and parsnip roots
- Ordered seed potatoes, onion sets, vegetable seeds, strawberry plants
- Continued hot composting through the cold weather
Video 2: HotBin Composter on a Cold January Day (2025)
Flora & Fauna in the Garden
- Blackbird (x2)
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| Photo 2: Blackbird on the Patio (10th January 2025) |
- Blue Tit (x2)
- Collared Dove (x2)
- Crow (x3)
- House Sparrow (x15)
- Jackdaw (x30)
- Magpie (x1)
- Robin (x1)
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| Photo 3: Robin on Bird Feeder (16th January 2025) |
- Starling (x10)
- Wood Pigeon (x7)
- Wren (x1)
And, finally, some garden photos ...
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| Photo 4: Early Rhubarb (1st January 2025) |
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| Photo 5: Ice Crystals on Grapevine (11th January 2025) |
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| Photo 6: Snowdrop (14th January 2025) |
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| Photo 7: Snowdrops and Raindrops (23rd January 2025) |
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| Photo 8: Storm Damage (Storm Eowyn, 24th January 2025) |
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