October was, in this era of "global warming", a rare, cold month. It was distinctly so in some areas and especially at night. It was the first appreciably colder than usual month since last October.

The margin by which it was below the average, here at Carlton, near Stokesley, was the biggest since May 1996, though July 2000 was close. It was my third coldest October in my 20 years of records after those of 1992 and 1993, both significantly colder, particularly the former.

Temperatures were reasonable for over half the month, very warm to begin with, but, from the 19th, they took a dive to mid-November levels. It was very dry in the west of the region, but towards the coast, amounts of rainfall approached normal. The dry spell that started on the 23rd of September continued until the 18th of October, i.e. for 26 days. During this interval, here at Carlton, we had a mere 3.2mm (an eighth of an inch).

It was, however, another very sunny month, and over England and Wales as a whole, it was the sunniest October on record. This follows similar achievements for both March and September. All the glorious weather we've had this year, especially the sunshine, reminds me of 1959, which, I hasten to add, I can only just remember.

I recall wandering around the streets, throughout the summer holidays, with the sun blazing down relentlessly. Even when we returned to school, it carried on this way into October. It was this summer that first stirred my interest in the weather.

I started recording temperatures with a cheap, maximum and minimum thermometer on a north-facing wall of our garage. A few years later the coldest winter for around 300 years, 1962-63, compelled me to take things more seriously and I set up a station to Met Office standards in our back garden in Hertfordshire.

Let's hope we don't pay for this year's good spring, summer and early autumn with such a vicious, icy winter. If we did, I think it would definitely have the reverse effect on me now!

October was a very different month to its predecessors, with winds from the south or south-west playing only a minor rle. The weather came in three phases: ten days of westerlies, then south-easterlies and finally, almost a fortnight of variable breezes, mainly from between north and east.

It stayed largely fine for the first two of these with high pressure once more in charge. For most of the summer, the anticyclones have been chiefly situated somewhere between the Azores and the near continent. At the start of October, the main cell was positioned further north in the Atlantic, drawing the airstream from the west. Consequently, temperatures were above the norm, but not by as much as we've been used to. With depressions much deeper as well, as is typical in autumn, the winds were brisk at times.

Towards the second week-end, the high transferred across southern Britain and during the following week, took up location over southern Scandinavia. The breeze backed via the south into the south-east, with the winds originating from eastern Europe and later Russia. Fortunately, the rapid cooling of the continent as we head towards winter, was not too far advanced then, so, the mercury remained around expected values.

Around the third weekend, several land-marks were passed showing that we were marching unstoppably towards winter. It was the first time this autumn that there was a widespread air frost, that maxima failed to reach 10C, the soil temperature at 10cm (4ins) under the surface dipped below 10C, and on the Monday, there was sleet on many hills. This day also saw the start of a much more changeable regime that lasted until the month's end.

The high was displaced by low pressure moving down from the north-west into southern Norway. Winds veered northerly bringing down very cold air from the Arctic. After a few days and towards the end of the month, they temporarily turned into the east as depressions proceeded east along the Channel.

A brief interlude of westerlies also occurred early in the final week as another deep low headed east close to Scotland.

There were widespread showers at times, forming over the relatively warm North Sea and coming inland on the breeze. They principally affected eastern districts; some were heavy, with hail and thunder and there were also a couple of longer periods of rain.

October temperatures and rainfall at Carlton-In-Cleveland

Mean Maximum 12.2C, 54F, (-1.0C, -2F).Mean Minimum 4.3C, 40F, (-2.7C, -5F). Highest Maximum 18.2C, 65F, 2nd. Lowest Minimum -2.5C, 27.5F, 22nd. Total Rainfall 50mm, 2.0ins, (-13mm, -0.5ins). Wettest Day 18mm, 0.7ins, 22nd. No of Rain Days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 13 (-3)

Figures in brackets show the difference from the 20-year mean, 1984-2003.