OVERALL, September was quite pleasant, being warm like August, but even drier.

However, it certainly didn’t look as if it was going to be so, with a distinctly autumnal, wet start.

Changeable south-westerlies that dogged us for much of the summer were with us again at the beginning of September. They were strong at times as depressions, advancing north-east mainly to the north of Scotland, were often deep.

One containing the remnants of tropical storm Danny ran north-east across Durham, producing heavy rain both ahead of it on Wednesday the 2nd, and in its wake on the Friday. So, by the next Tuesday, approaching half the expected total for the month had tumbled down already over most of the region.

Suddenly, it then dried up as the Azores anticyclone, so sadly missed this summer, transferred towards us, building powerfully. Early on the Thursday, the barometer achieved its highest in September in the North-East for 30 years, about 1040mb (30.7ins).

Pressure remained high for the rest of the month. Only one or two millimetres of rain (about 0.05ins), a few per cent of the final accumulation, drizzled down in the last 22 days. As a result, it was the driest September for at least five years and for as many as 20 up in the Dales.

It was also the warmest September since that of 2006, which was a considerable 2- 3C (3-5F) milder and the hottest in our area for three decades. We now have to go back eight years for a cooler than average one.

Saturday the 12th was a beautiful summer’s day. It was widely the warmest this month and, shamefully, since July 4, but temperatures were well short of the peak for any September. Here at Carlton, near Stokesley, in my 27-year record, this is 26.8C (80F) measured on both the 5th in 1999 and as late as the 21st in 2006.

That evening though, with clear skies and the breeze falling calm, the mercury plummeted. At Carlton, the minimum was 5.6C (42F), giving a remarkably large drop of 18C (32.5F).

It would have been colder, perhaps with an early ground frost, but for cloud spreading in from off the North Sea later in the night. This heralded a disappointing change.

The high, which had settled just to our south, drifted to the north-west of Scotland, introducing a north to northeasterly flow.

This interlude lasted a week until the anticyclone moved away east across Scandinavia.

But, another came along, kindly establishing itself close to South-West England again. Light south-westerlies were restored and the sun reappeared. The final Saturday, in particular, was glorious.

September’s figures at Carlton in Cleveland:

Mean max: 17.6C, 63.5F (+0.5C, 0.8F)

Mean min: 10.3C, 50.5F (+0.7C, 1.3F)

Highest max: 23.5C, 74.5F, 12th

Lowest min: 5.4C, 41.5F, 10th Total rainfall: 31mm, 1.2ins (–28mm, 1.1ins)

Wettest day: 14mm, 0.55ins, 2nd

No of rain days, with 0.2mm (0.01ins) or more: 10 (–3.5)

(Figures in brackets show the difference from the 26-year mean, 1983-2008)