UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Hello spwill - England played well yesterday and deservedly progressed to the World Cup semi-finals. Now we have Croatia on Wednesday evening and this will be a tough test for our young side. With regard to humidity, this hot spell has been remarkable for its general lack of humidity as we have not had any feed of air off the continent - no Spanish plumes this year. It is effectively homegrown heat under a persistent zone of high pressure and as we are the time of highest insolation, it effectively just gets hotter and hotter. Yesterday (Saturday 7th July), the mercury reached 31.5*C at London Heathrow Airport, Charlwood (Surrey) + East Malling (Kent).

Rupert - we are not used to this level of sunshine here in the UK, as you well know. Quite a few of the recording sites have now recorded 200+ hours for the 17 day period of 21st June to 7th July and Morecambe on the coast of Lancashire (in NW England) has recorded 144.6 hours in the last 9 days and this gives an average of 16.1 hours/day for this period.

It will continue to be rather hot here in the south today and tomorrow (Mon 9th) but a brief respite from the heat will spread south Mon/Tues with cooler air arriving behind a weak cold front - it will be no more than a band of cloud - before it heats up again later in the week under the persistent high pressure belt. No sign of any rain in the next seven days, apart from the odd shower/storm in some western areas late next week.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Sunday + Monday (8th/9th July) continued the hot and sunny theme in the UK, especially here in the south. The maximum temperatures on these two days were 32.4*C at Gosport Fleetlands (Hampshire) and 30.5*C at London Heathrow. respectively. Further north it was cooler (and cloudier) and this change to more fresher (and comfortable) weather has now spread to most of us overnight into Tuesday. This change is coming behind a SW moving cold front which was little more than a band of cloud with a few spits of rain or drizzle in the wind. The attached tweet gives a good representation of the temperature change across this front as it moved across more eastern parts of England on Monday afternoon, and this change moved slowly SW overnight, but is struggling to clear the SW of England this morning. Here in Hythe it feels quite a bit fresher this morning and at 10am it is again sunny but only 19*C.

https://twitter.com/stormbell/status/10 ... 2339722242

After a couple of cooler and fresher days, the mercury will rise again on Thursday as another ridge of high pressure builds across the UK from the SW, and we could see 30*C again by the weekend.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Wednesday was indeed a little fresher and cooler, but it has warmed up again in the last couple of days with the mercury nudging 27*C again in the south. A few showers (and thunderstorms) broke out on the western side of the UK yesterday (Thurs 12th July) but they were a bit more widespread today as a couple of convergence line troughs developed on the Wales/England border and over central southern England, giving some downpours to the selected few in what is now a very parched landscape.

I encountered one of these showers earlier this evening as I drove back to the south coast. I left Milton Keynes at 18:30 in beautiful warm sunshine (and 25*C) but met the shower between Finmere and Bicester (on the A4421 if you are looking at the map :-)). It was one of those occasions when you pass in and out of the shower a few times - one minute it was tipping it down with very wet roads and the next minute all was dry. After such a long dry spell, the roads can be very slick when they get their first rainfall in an age. After Bicester it was mostly cloudy, but only high base Cu + Sc and only the odd light shower. The car thermometer fell to 17*C in the heavier rain.

It will become very warm and sunny again this weekend with the temperature possibly reaching 32*C again in the SE of England. This episode of warmth is partly due to the eastward progress of the remnants of ex Hurricane Chris across the Atlantic to be near Iceland by the end of Sunday. This will draw a warm feed off the continent before the cold front moves in Mon/Tues next week to give showers and some thunderstorms. This push of energy may well see quite a pattern shift next week as the jet stream starts to move south and bring the more usual W or SW flow back to NW Europe. Not a done deal yet, but looking more likely by the day.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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The generally hot and sunny weather has continued over the SE of the UK, but a trailing front down the western side has provided some rain + showers to these parts over the last couple of days. As the front moved slowly east on Monday (16th July) thunderstorms developed over northern England giving up to 25mm in places and hail up to 20mm, but here in the south we saw nothing more than a narrow band of cloud. However, the eastward movement of this front has brought slightly cooler and fresher weather - for a day or two!

The highest temperatures have persisted over more south eastern parts and the maximums for Sunday + Monday (15th + 16th July) were 30.8*C at Santon Downham (Suffolk) and 31.5*C at Gravesend (E London) respectively. It will be a little cooler for a day or two, but the heat will return from Thursday and there are hints in the models for a draw of air from the Continent next week which could bring some very high temperatures if the sunshine persists.

The CET for July was 19.6*C (+3.7*C) up to the 16th and the EWR was 4mm up to the 15th which is just 6% of the monthly average - and most of this has fallen in Wales + northern England.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Whilst the predominance of high pressure in and around the UK has declined this week, we are not yet being dominated by low pressure systems. Cooler (and wetter) weather has made some inroads into more north western parts of the UK but it has remained dry and warm/hot in the south. Whilst temperatures were a little lower mid-week, they have started to pick up again and 29*C was reached in the London area yesterday (Thurs 19th July).

The forecast for the next week is a bit complicated as low pressure seems to have a bit more of an influence, but with this set up we will start to draw more of a feed off the continent which will not only lift the temperatures but also the humidity, and the latter has not yet been a feature of this long warm spell. There has been much chatter about a possible new UK maximum temperature record later next week, and it has to be said that many of the general conditions are in place - dry ground, higher than average SST's in the English Channel etc., but it will require a very specific synoptic situation for this to occur. That said, I would not be surprised to see 35*C reached next week, especially towards next weekend. In the shorter term, there is quite a bit of rain about today (Fri 20th) in the NW of the UK and a few thunderstorms are expected to occur in the SE later today and this evening - but any rainfall in the SE will be localised rather than general.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Friday did see a weather system bring cloud and rain gradually south eastwards across much of the UK and a few thunderstorms developed on the leading edge of the rain in the east Midlands (Northants + Cambs) in the early evening. Some places did indeed get a downpour (up to 30mm), but many had just 1-2mm at best. Here in Hythe we had a few spits of rain on Friday evening and enough rain to just about dampen the ground early on Saturday morning - or in other words, 0.1mm.

This will be about it on the rain front now for much of the country (apart from the NW) for a week or so as we are set to have the hottest weather so far this year next week, with a run of at least five days with 30*C+ temperatures and up to at least 35*C in the warmest spots. Many of us are beginning to get fed up with the heat as we have had no relief at all now in the south for 4 weeks and it could potentially last through to the end of August. With the air now coming from the south, the nights will be warmer, so there could be profound health issues for some if the really hot weather lasts for more than a few days. The ironic point is that the weather at home is better than many of the top holiday destinations on the Continent.

This tweet from one of the BBC's weather forecasters gives an idea of the effect of 2 months of dry and hot weather on the UK - from space it has turned from green to brown.

https://twitter.com/Schafernaker/status ... 4601515010
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

There is a NW/SE split in the weather at the moment with a trailing cold front separating two contrasting air masses. The front is aligned SW-NE over Ireland and Scotland and just into northern England and has been stuck there for a couple of days giving some rain and showers. To the NW of the front it is cool and to the SE it has become sunny and hot again and along the front it remains cool + cloudy with showery rain. This front will slowly fizzle out over the next day or so and the heat will move further north with no respite for the south, where we could see 35*C on Thurs/Fri with the risk of some thunderstorms on Friday in more eastern counties - before a bit of a cool down over the weekend.

Yesterday (Mon 23rd July) was the warmest day of the year so far in the UK with a maximum of 33.3*C recorded at Santon Downham and 32.7*C at Cavendish, both places being in the county of Suffolk. The heat has prompted the Met Office (in conjunction with Public Health England) to release a level 3 heat-health warning for the rest of this week.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/wea ... heatHealth
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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I do not wish to sound like the proverbial 'Whinging Pom' but the heat is beginning to become a bit of a pain and we are now entering the two hottest days!. Yesterday (Weds 25th July) the mercury hit 32.0*C at RHS Wisley in Greater London and we could see 35/36*C both today and tomorrow in this area before a significant cool down at the weekend - this will be welcomed by most of us. The Met Office is now throwing some severe storms into the mix for both today and particularly tomorrow as a cold front pushes slowly east across the country - it will depend on the timing of the front and a broad upper trough (just to the west of the UK) and the extent of the surface heating. The bias for the stronger storms is for the east and north east of England.

The Met Office site at Brooms Barn (Suffolk) has now (as of Weds 25th) not had any rain for 50 days. This period of drought will probably end soon, although it is not impossible for some places to miss the rain again.

https://twitter.com/KateProutITV/status ... 7849686016
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Thursday 26th July was the warmest day so far in the UK with 5 Met Office sites reaching 35*C and 9 others reached at least 34*C. Around about 100 sites exceeded 30*C. The highest temperatures were:

35.1*C at RHS Wisley (Surrey)
35.0*C at London Heathrow + St James Park
34.8*C at Charlwood (Surrey) + RAF Northolt
34.4*C at Kew Gardens
33.8*C at Monks Wood (Cambs), Thurleigh (Bedford) + RAF Marham (Norfolk)

Quite a few elevated storms were triggered in the afternoon up the spine of the UK and these rumbled on through the night - we had a brief storm here in Hythe at 4am on Friday morning. Today (Fri 27th July) could be a little hotter again in the far east, but the models suggest some nasty storms later this afternoon and into the evening. It should be a lot fresher and cooler this weekend.

After 51 days with no rainfall, Brooms Barn finally caught a storm this morning and 5mm of rain. Good things come to those who wait, as per the old Heinz advert. :D
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Friday 27th July was the last day of the long hot spell and the transition went off with quite a bang. The highest temperatures on Friday were confined to the far east with 34.7*C recorded at Tibenham Airfield (Norfolk) and 34.4*C at Cavendish (Suffolk), but this hot air was the final ingredient for some powerful storms on the eastern side of the UK, with golf ball sized hail reported in both West Norfolk and the city of Leeds. Unfortunately we missed most of the rain + storms here on the south coast - we had no more than 2mm of rain in Hythe.

There were numerous lightning discharges reported by the various networks and something in the region of 215,000 strikes were recorded 'in and around the UK' between 7am on Friday and 7am on Saturday. The link below gives a good representation of the progress of the storms over East Anglia and southern England. The mid-afternoon storms (on Friday) start in the middle of this clip:

https://twitter.com/danholley_/status/1 ... 4082254848
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Following the storms on Friday and overnight into Saturday, we have seen a huge change in the weather here in the UK as the Atlantic re-exerts its influence - albeit only temporarily. We have seen a couple of low pressure centres rotating around each other on the western side of the UK and pushing a number of weather fronts eastwards across the UK. Both days were very blustery (typically 30-40mph gusts) and much cooler with periods of rain or showers. Rainfall totals were very variable, but most places have seen 10mm or more and some have had a drenching - for example, Belfast Aldergrove Airport received just under 100mm on Saturday alone.

We are now (Monday morning - 30th July) in a rather muggy south westerly flow with still some showery rain, but the temperatures are already on the rise again. Through the early part of this week the low pressures will move away to he NW and high pressure will again build from Scandinavia to link with a weaker ridge from the Azores. This will dry out the weather over most of the UK and build the heat again - we will see temperatures near to 30*C by the end of the week. So, only a temporary reprieve. :-(
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Pressure has been slowly building over the south of the UK and the weather has turned dry and sunny again, although outbreaks of rain persist further to the north and west. The temperature today (Weds 1st August) reached 27*C in the London area but will climb further and I would not be surprised to see 33*C in the south on Fri/Sat. Some serious heat is being displayed in the models for Iberia this weekend (up to around 47/48*C in Portugal) and it will be interesting to see if any of this heat makes it north to us in the UK. The models are suggesting 35*C for next Tuesday, but that is a long way off.

The link below is to a Twitter page with a photo of some of the hailstones that fell in the city of Leeds (Yorkshire) last Friday and these knobbly stones look to be in the 50mm range.

https://twitter.com/henshelwoods/status ... 9652080640
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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The weather duly warmed up in the UK during the middle of the last week and particularly in the south eastern quarter and seems to have reached a peak on Friday 3rd August in and around London. Maximum reported temperatures were:

33.3*C at Kew Gardens
32.9*C at RHS Wisley (SW London)
32.8*C at Gravesend-Broadness (E London) + Cavendish (Suffolk)
32.7*C at St James Park + Writtle
32.6*C at London Heathrow + RAF Northolt.

I was in Milton Keynes during Friday and it was a humid + sunny 30*C by mid-afternoon, but a bank of Ac/As cut out the sunshine after 5pm (just as I was leaving) and persisted as I drove back to the south coast with a few spits of rain around Newbury - it was still 26*C then (8:30pm) and still 24*C as I arrived back in Hythe at 10pm with the cloud now beginning to clear. An uncomfortable night for sleeping followed.

The final CET for July was 19.1*C (+3.1*C) and the final EWR was 39mm which is 63% of the monthly average. The latter figure hides the distribution of rainfall which was skewed more the NW and away from the SE. The CET figure for July was the fourth hottest month in the entire series dating back to 1659. The hotter months were July 2006 (19.7*C), July 1983 (19.5*C) and August 1995 (19.2*C).
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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The relentless sunny and hot days continue here in the UK, but there is finally a sign of relief from midweek onwards. The temperature hit 30*C again on both Saturday + Sunday and will reach around 32*C in the SE again today and tomorrow, Tuesday 7th August. After that we are expecting a considerable cool down from Wednesday with a few showers, although it is likely that temperatures will only fall to around average for the time of year.

The CET for the three month period May to July was the highest on record (back to 1659) at 16.1*C which just beats 2006 (16.0*C) and 1976 (15.9*C), but for just June to July the figure was 17.6*C making it joint third (with 1828) on the list behind 1976 (17.9*C) and 2006 (17.8*C). It will be interesting to see how the 'summer' period of June to August compares with other years - although I am not expecting this year to break the record.

The Met Office news release linked below refers to wider regions of the UK than the CET series and also only considers the digitised record back to 1910 - but July 2018 was still the third warmest.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/relea ... statistics

I will consider the sunshine totals in my next post - when all the figures are available.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Sunshine totals in July 2018 were very healthy in the UK and especially in more southern and eastern parts of England - although not exclusively. The highest totals were mostly on the south coast of England, i.e. at:

329.5 hours at Bognor Regis (West Sussex)
326.1 hours at Weymouth (Dorset)
321.6 hours at Shoeburyness (Essex)
316.2 hours at Hastings (East Sussex)
314.8 hours at Brogdale (Faversham - Kent)

Not all the high totals were in the SE - for example, Morecambe in NW England (Lancashire), recorded a credible 301.8 hours.

The record sunshine for any month in the UK is 383.9 hours at Eastbourne (East Sussex) in July 1911.

Monday and Tuesday this week (6th/7th August) were still hot in the SE with maximums of 32.5*C at Teddington Bushy Park (SW London) and 33.2*C at Gravesend respectively. However, after a few storms in the SE overnight, today (Weds 8th) is much cooler and fresher and we will be in this more SW-NW regime for the next week or so with some rain and showers. it will take that long for the buildings to lose their heat after all the sunshine. :cool:
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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It has been much cooler (and comfortable) in the last few days, although the price has been some rain and showers. It was a particularly wet day on Friday for those of us on the south coast with bands of showers and thunderstorms for much of the day - with squally winds and some hail. A few official sites recorded up to 50mm of rain for this day and a few PWS got close to 60mm. We had a thunderstorm and torrential rain just after 2pm with a couple of loud cracks of thunder and a good 15 minutes of wind blown torrential rain and hail. Gave the car a good clean. :D

As the troughs responsible for the rain/showers on Friday moved away to the SE the UK was left in a cool NW flow and this gave us an unseasonably cold night into Saturday morning. Some sites had a ground frost and the lowest air minimums I can find are 0.2*C at Katesbridge (Co Down, N Ireland), 1.5*C at Redesdale (Northumberland), 2.5*C at St Harmon (Powys, Wales) and 3.5*C at Exeter Airport.

The CET for August was 18.5*C (+2.6*C) up to the 10th and the EWR was 17mm also up to the 10th, which is 22% of the monthly average of 77mm.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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The weekend continued the showery rain theme with rather mild and muggy temperatures. Most areas had a decent amount of rain (10mm or so), but Wales (particularly southern parts) and the SW of England had some heavy and persistent rain on Saturday and into early Sunday. Many sites reported 20-40mm with up to 65mm on Dartmoor and 80mm+ locally in south Wales to the NE of Port Talbot. The highest total from an EA gauge was 86.4mm at a place named Blaen Ogwr - for the 24 hour period to 09:00 on Sunday 12th August.

Here in Hythe we had a mixture of showers and a little hazy sunshine with the temperature reaching 18/19*C on both days of the weekend. Looking forward, it will get a little warmer until mid-week, but another cold front will bring cooler and fresher air south eastwards on Thursday and a return to sunshine and showers. There are some indications in the models of a return to the hot weather next week, but it is only a hint at the moment.

During the hot spell I was staying at a hotel in Newport Pagnell (Buckinghamshire) and was rewarded with a lovely shallow fog display at 05:30 on the morning of 3rd August. My photo does not do it justice.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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A cold front gave much of us a decent rainfall yesterday with around 15mm here in Hythe from a dawn to early afternoon spell of rain. We are temporarily in a cooler and fresher NW flow today (Fri 17th Aug) which has seen southern parts enjoy sunny spells whilst more north western parts have had more cloud and patchy rain - the temperature still reached 23*C in London despite the colder air.

Another tropical storm (Ernesto) has developed in mid-Atlantic (after Debby in early August) and is now moving NE towards the British Isles, although by the time it gets here (Sunday) it will be an extratropical system containing the remnants of Ernesto, i.e. lots of moist and humid air. The resulting depression is likely to move across the centre of the UK but at the moment it looks like the bulk of its rain will fall in Eire and NW England. Here in the south we are likely to remain dry, but it will become quite warm and humid especially if the sun comes out.

https://twitter.com/UKWX_/status/1030405290087215105

The CET for August was 18.0*C (+2.0) up to the 16th and the EWR was 40mm up to the 15th, which is 52% of the monthly average.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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The depression that passed over the centre of the UK was moving quite quickly and only delivered 20-30mm of rain to this area with nothing here in the south. It introduced a warm and humid south westerly flow to most of the UK and where the cloud broke up it was warm yesterday with a maximum of 28.3*C at London Heathrow on Sunday (19th Aug).

This mild and muggy weather will persist until mid-week, but we will see quite a cool down overnight into Thursday as a much fresher NW flow becomes established behind a cold front. This much cooler weather will persist into the weekend, but the detail is not clear in the models beyond Friday. The Met Office are suggesting a low over the UK but the others look more to a build of pressure from the west - although this could also come 'behind' the low pressure. As it is a 'Bank Holiday Weekend' we might expect the rain and showers to continue. No sign of a return to the sunny and hot weather...….yet.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The warm weather held on into yesterday (Thurs 23rd Aug) with the overnight low in southern England being in the range 16-18*C, but two cold fronts have since passed through and it is quite a lot cooler today (Friday) and we have plenty of showers over the UK. The temperature will struggle to reach 20*C in the UK today and the last time we failed to record a day where at least one station in the UK reached this mark was way back on the 16th May. It will remain cool over the Bank Holiday weekend with further rain + showers (even for those of us in the south) and we might even see a bit of ground frost in the more prone areas.

The CET for August was 18.0*C (+2.1*C) up to the 23rd and the EWR was 51mm up to the 22nd, which is 66% of the monthly average. Depending upon how cool it remains for the rest of August will determine if we record the warmest summer (June, July + August) in the entire CET record which goes back to 1659. I think it might fall short by a fraction of a degree.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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We had a chilly start on Saturday (25th Aug) morning with a very slight ground frost in a few prone areas in England + Wales. The lowest air temperature I can find is 1.9*C at Kielder Forest in Northumberland. However, I was wrong in my prediction of sub 20*C maximum day for the whole of the UK as each of the last few days has seen a few stations just nudge past this mark, i.e. 20.5*C at Santon Downham yesterday, Monday 27th August. Usually, we will have one or two days in the summers months when this happens (when we get a vigorous low pressure system), but not this year. Looking at the current 10 day forecast, we will not see this until at least the middle of September as we are expecting the return of the blocking high pressure from Scandinavia to the Azores. The Met Office is going for 25-27*C maximums by early next week.

Sunday was a wet day over much of the UK and particularly so in my neck of the woods. It rained all day and was often moderate to heavy in intensity and the local PWS's recorded between 40-45mm in 9 hours. Thankfully, there was no flooding, although the roads were awash with water for much of the day.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The last few days of August were a little on the cool side, especially at night, with a local ground frost on both the 30th and 31st in some parts of the UK. There was even an air frost on the last morning, with a minimum of -1.3*C recorded at Braemar in the Scottish Highlands.

The statisticians are hard at work trying to decide if 2018 has had the hottest summer on record and it is going to be a close run thing. It will depend upon which reference point they use, but it will decided by a few hundredths of a degree. The Met Office have given some preliminary figures in a news release:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/relea ... mmer-stats
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

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Various figures have been published on whether the summer of 2018 (1st June to 31st August) was the warmest on record and the results are not all the same. The Met Office has two 'official' measures, although they appear to favour the first.

Firstly, a UK average is quoted and this is from a 5km gridded set (I think) of observations and therefore contains a lot of sites for the whole of the UK - which encompasses England, Wales, Scotland + Northern Ireland. These records go back to 1910 (at present) and show the following figures:

2018 15.80*C
2006 15.78*C
2003 + 1976 15.77*C

So, by this measure it was just the 'hottest' summer on record for the UK, although officially, they have all been averaged to 15.8*C.

The Central England Temperature series (which goes back to 1659) covers an area of England only and in a triangle roughly enclosed by Bristol, Lancashire + London and involves figures from just three long standing stations - which are Stoneyhurst (Lancs), Rothampsted (Herts) and Pershore (Worcs). It gives a very different result for this restricted area:

1976 17.77*C
1826 17.60*C
1995 17.37*C
2003 17.33*C
2018 17.27*C

So on this measure, 2018 was only the fifth warmest summer for central England. Confused - we all are. :-k
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The final CET for August was 16.6*C (+0.9*C) and the EWR was 76mm which is 99% of the monthly average. Therefore a much more average month than the preceding few.

Some late figures have been released by the Met Office now that the climate returns have been received, and it appears that the highest temperature recorded during the summer was 35.6*C at Felsham which is in the county of Suffolk - this was observed on Friday 27th July.

An interesting map was also published by the Met Office to show the distribution of the 'hottest' summer since the digitised data record was established back to 1910. As you can see it is rather complicated and it all depends upon where you live!

https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/10 ... 5419408384

There is an interesting graph or two in the commentary.
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2018

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Here in the UK, summers are usually judged by how hot it is and whether the sun shines or not, and this year has produced on both of those counts. Sunshine figures have been well above average, although they tapered off in August as the weather came a bit more changeable. The provisional figure for the UK as a whole for the three summer months is 625 hours, which is 124% of the 1981-2010 average. Looking at the sunniest areas, whilst in terms of hours recorded the SE of England is the winner, compared to the average, the NW of England and N Ireland show the most positive anomalies. There is, however, the usual fall in hours recorded as one moves north, despite the north actually having longer daylight hours. A few figures demonstrates this and these cover the three month period of June-August:

852.6 hours at Eastbourne (East Sussex)
841.5 hours at Fort Regent, Jersey (Channel Islands)
830.9 hours at Weymouth (Dorset)
745.8 hours at Oxford (Radcliffe Observatory)
689.1 hours at London Heathrow Airport
623.5 hours at Sheffield (S Yorks)
543.3 hours at Belfast Aldergrove Airport
505.8 hours at Glasgow (Bishopton)
456.6 hours at Lerwick Observatory (Shetland Isles)

A few more details (and maps) can be found in the Met Office summary for Summer 2018:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk ... 018/summer
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