Must be the warmest first week of November on record with these consistent day and night values

Double figures last night and 16C today.

It may be wet and windy but a warm feeling 16c!!!

No it isn't - at least not countrywide. Individual locations may well have their warmest first November week ever. But looking more broadly 1938 was significantly warmer. 1818 is similar to this year and may be slightly warmer once we get the final figures.

Out there in the present conditions it is 15.8c. 

Ridiculously mild again with a maximum temperature of 17.3c. We shall pay for this I tell thee 

The latest for my location (just south of Salisbury, 40 or so miles from Southampton):

Last night was less balmy than GFS had been anticipating (until the 12z of yesterday, at least) but still a date record high minimum. Today exceeded the predicted maximum slightly, smashing the date record high maximum by 2.6*C. Bearing in mind the records only span 14 years, of course!

GFS has come around to the idea of a second spell of exceptionally high temperatures for a few days in the middle of the month, with more date records suggested. ECM moved away from this on the 12z of yesterday and 00z of today, but has shifted back again this evening and is now similar to GFS in that respect. Notably, ECM doesn't look like setting up anything all that much cooler going forward from day 10, though I'm only basing that on the op run at this stage so the usual caveats must be considered.

I went for a walk this afternoon and soon shed my light rain jacket for a t-shirt as the rain cleared and the sun came out. I was able to stand still for 10 minutes on a bridge looking out over a swollen stream, feeling the warmth of the sun on my face and warms, despite windy conditions. All of this about 90 days from the winter solstice! I was surprised to find a maximum of 16.6*C to be honest - it felt warmer. That'll be due to the high dew points of course, with values in the mid-teens that are more typical of sultry days in summer.

On the basis of that James - it implies that we could still have a November CET by the end of the first half of the month at around 11C or 12C even.

Proffering  14.3c max at this time of day...

Being old enough to remember the likes of early November 1980 (snow cover at Dover and Jersey 6th Nov); I had to pinch myself as our back garden display was held under clear skies and balmy airs , wearing T shirts at around 16c.  Unbelievable!

It's usually possible to do manual work outdoors at this time of year without too much discomfort. However, I was rigging/firing/de-rigging a large public firework display yesterday and I was sweating buckets with just moderate exertion. I've been doing this every year for many years and I can't recall ever feeling that kind of warmth. I usually start to feel chilly at the end of the evening, even with the exertion. Crazy weather indeed!

The highest minimun for November is surely going to be broken tonight with some places staying above 16C.

Update from west Hants:

The overnight minimums have dropped off a bit over the past two nights (more so than GFS predicted, by 1-2*C), but have still held above average despite a lot of clear skies. This is expected to change again tonight, though as with last Fri/Sat, GFS has backed off a bit from the balmy 15*C minimums that it was showing. This is mainly due to a slight delay in the arrival of the very mild air; the temperature rises slowly but steadily up until around the start of Tuesday, after which it holds fairly steady, perhaps nudging up a degree tomorrow daytime. Or at least, that's the plan!

Today looks to be a close call for a (2000-2015) date record, as GFS predicts 13 to 14*C and the record is just under 14*C. There's some sun coming through at the moment which may help, although some fairly strong winds are limiting the surface heating associated with that solar input. The temperature has just crept past the 13*C mark with the typical peak temperature time still to come (between 1 and 3 pm) so it's not hard to imagine it exceeding 14*C.

Amazing to have had three date records in a row with a fourth in prospect, even with my relatively short data series in mind. What I'd give to have stats covering the 20th Century as well!

The humidity is as much of a factor, being near to 100% in many places meaning there's literally no 'room' in the air for moisture to evaporate into. This is why all but the most exposed lawns are refusing to dry out even when the sun comes out and the wind is gusting strongly. The grass is worryingly tall here, what with these conditions following a mostly cloudy, dank second half to October that also brought persistently high dew-points.

Imagine how high the snow would be if the grass stayed this long 

There must have been a bit of 'headroom' on Saturday evening though. We didn't set out the display until after the rain stopped in the early afternoon and then, as usual, we covered everything up with plastic sheeting in anticipation of a heavy dew fall. Even though the skies cleared before dusk, so there must have been some radiative cooling, the covers stayed perfectly dry until we took them off at 6:30. This felt quite strange and very contrary to the usual experience.

Nice post there James :-)

The foehn effect is really kicking in now for the NE with temperatures rising to 17C in some places.

I wondered why my lawn is wet through, it really is becoming a mud bath out there despite the sun having been out some days (though it doesn't penetrate the garden as much at this time of year) and the grass height is creeping up. 

Mild out there and windy, an odd feeling.