THE WEATHER in Darlington today is wet, damp and miserable, setting the tone like some willful misbehaved child spoiling the fun of those who dare to enjoy the ‘party.’ Autumn is here, for the brave who like to wrap up and face the elements, or for those who love squishing up in front of the ‘telly’ snug and warm!

But the mood is set to change from Thursday onwards to include the weekend, for the better, no less. Not only for the better but quite possibly record breaking. This is a surprise. Only 16 times since 1910 has an October had temperatures 14 degrees Celsius or over. This weekend the country might see the hottest October temperatures logged.

If we are to believe the forecasters anything 14 degrees Celsius and over is exceptional for this time of the year! It is with some delight and anticipation that the BBC are able to inform us that Darlington may well see temperatures rise to 15 degrees Celsius on Saturday 15th. And the rest of the country, a breathless 18 degrees Celsius, eeeks!

According to www.weather-forecast.com the skies are likely to clear of cloud and the temperature may rise again to between 12 and 14 Celsius from Thursday, through to Sunday. So this outlook is very mild for autumn, with light winds, some sunshine and clear skies. This means that it looks like there may be a good few days of decent weather to enjoy in our region, unless, of course, the wind chill factor sets in.

The Met Office maintain that the average maximum temperature in Durham during the Octobers from 1971 to 2000 is 13 Celsius, with a combined average of 56.9mm of rainfall gracing good old Blighty. In 2010 we had 92.0 mm of rain in October with the highest recorded downpours of this month in 1976 at 166.1 mm.

Today a moderate rainfall of eight millimeters and an overcast cloud hangs heavily in the atmosphere. The temperature is sitting at nine degrees Celsius and it feels cold. It is a particularly British pastime bemoaning the awfulness of our climate, and so far this October is not exceptionally dry, hot, windy or rainy, yet! Looking back over the records though, the next few days might bring some surprises. The hottest October on record is 1920 when temperatures reached 16.2 degrees Celsius, my goodness… But of course the predictions can all go so horribly wrong, as has happened so spectacularly in the past! Common sense suggests that it is wise to check the daily weather report; in order to make sensible plans based on whatever Mother Nature graces us with!