UK Weather - Summer 2022

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Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The Met Office have produced a 15 page pdf on the recent heatwave and the new UK maximum temperature record:

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/binaries/c ... atwave.pdf

The weather cooled considerably from Wednesday onwards with rain for more northern parts of the UK, but it has remained mostly dry in the south and it has become very warm again this weekend, particularly in the SE + East Anglia. The temperature reached between 30-32°C in these parts on Sunday. Here in Tiverton, it has been mostly cloudy today (Sunday 24th July) with a few bits and pieces of rain + drizzle, but with a very warm breeze from the SW - the temperature reached 24°C despite only a few sunny intervals.

Looking forward, it looks to remain dry in the southern half of the UK with temperatures just a little above normal.. The ground is getting very dry now and the prolonged period of below normal rainfall. roughly 9 months, is beginning to raise concern about ground water and reservoir levels.

The CET for July was 18.2°C (+2.2°C) up to the 22nd and the EWR was 8mm also up to the 22nd, which is just 11% of the monthly average.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by cbm »

Some locations broke all time records by 4.0C is one of the more shocking facts in that report.

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Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Indeed, cbm, this is similar margins to the heatwave western Canada experienced last year.

The weather has been rather quiet in the UK since the heatwave, particularly in the south. We are now getting concerned about the lack of rainfall in the south which has been on-going for the last 9 months or so. This BBC article highlights this, although it should be remembered that the England + Wales rainfall figures reflect a wetter northern half and a drier southern half combined - the lack of rainfall is more pronounced here in the south:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62303330

The CET for July was 18.2°C (+2.2°C) up to the 26th and the EWR was 15mm also up to the 26th, which is just 20% of the monthly average. We are not expecting much more before the end of the month.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Fairly non-descript weather over southern parts of the UK in the last few days, with a little patchy rain and rather muggy. There has been a bit more rain in the last couple of days for Wales, Scotland and more northern parts of England, but it is still going to end up a very dry month.

The attached BBC article attempts to inform us on the current situation, but I am afraid it does not really expand our knowledge, but thankfully falls short of trying to persuade us to share a shower or a bath. :lol:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62298430

The Met Office has provided a few more figures - the rain of the last couple of days in more northern parts will move July 2022 down the driest month league table.

https://blog.metoffice.gov.uk/2022/07/2 ... e-climate/

Currently in the UK, roughly 60% of domestic properties are fitted with a water meter and probably most of these households pay for what they use, although rather bizarrely, you are not mandated to use the meter. However, the remaining 40% or so pay a fixed rate (based on the house rateable value from decades ago) and can use as much water as they like. For larger households, there is no incentive to get a meter fitted or indeed one if it is already installed, as their bill will likely rise. For industrial premises, metering uptake is very high as it is seen as a way of reducing demand and more importantly, the bill. This stupid situation has existed for years, but no politician has got the guts to enforce metering. Let's hope the rains come back for those of us in the south.
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

We have had a run of unusually warm south westerlies for the last few days with very muggy days and nights. Here in Tiverton the night minimum for Tues/Weds was 19°C which is the warmest night so far this summer. It has been essentially dry in the SE half of the UK, but quite wet further north. A number of water companies have announced impending restrictions including hose pipe bans. The cold front has now passed through and we are in a slightly fresher westerly flow, but the forecast for the next 7 days is dry and sunny and increasingly warm for most of the UK.

July was the driest for England as a whole since 1935, but the driest on record for much of SE England + East Anglia - the gridded rainfall record now extends back to 1836. It was also warm with average temperatures over the UK nearly 2 degrees above normal. Sunshine was around average.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/p ... since-1935

The final CET for July was 18.2°C (+2.2°C) and the final EWR was 23mm, which is only 31% of the monthly average.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

We have just started round two of hot weather here in the UK, with a heatwave expected to continue until into the coming weekend. It won't be quite as hot as it was in July, but the Met Office are expecting at least 35°C in the south of England on Fri/Sat. This spell started quite inauspiciously at the end of last week as a cold front passed SE over the UK and left us in a cool NW flow - there was even a hint of ground frost on Saturday morning at a few well sheltered sites. As high pressure built in over the weekend (from the SW) the air has warmed 'in situ' and is getting a little warmer each day despite plenty of cooling overnight - we will see around 30°C today (Tues 9th Aug). The main heat will come from Thursday as the winds back to E-SE and we import air with a continental origin which will be more humid and probably rather hazy. It will be unpleasant by then, even down here in the SW. Beyond the weekend, there are some suggestions of a cool down and perhaps some rain and/or showers. No sign, yet, of a thundery breakdown.

The Met Office have issued an Amber Extreme Heat Warning for Thursday to Sunday inclusive.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/p ... met-office
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The heat has been building this week here in the UK as the high pressure across more southern parts persists and most of the England + Wales has seen wall-to-wall sunshine since Monday. These are the daily highs so far this week:

Tuesday 9th August - 30.1°C at Ross-on-Wye (Herefordshire)
Wednesday 10th August - 31.8°C at Usk (Monmouthshire, Wales) + Wiggonholt (West Sussex)
Thursday 11th August - 34.2°C at Wiggonholt

Today (Fri 12th) has seen 34°C at a few sites, but it is still warming up at the moment (4pm).

The Met Office seem to have backed off a bit from the 37°C anticipated for Saturday, but we should see at least 35°C - it is the length of this spell that is different from July. Should cool down next week with some showers + thunderstorms.

An official drought has now been declared for much of southern and eastern England.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62508521
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The maximum on Friday (12th August) was 34.5°C at Wiggonholt, which is just inland from the south coast. Another hot and sunny day in prospect for today, Saturday.

Attached is a satellite photo of the UK taken by one of the ESA craft and circulated via the Copernicus website. It was taken on Wednesday 10th August and shows just how brown the UK is getting - very parched and dry, and we are experiencing numerous small bush fires.
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Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The hot and dry weather has come to an end in the last couple of days and been replaced by humidity and showery rain, with some places getting a real deluge. The maximum temperatures for the remaining days of the heatwave were:

Saturday 13th August - 34.9°C at Charlwood (Surrey) + Maison St Louis (Jersey)
Sunday 14th August - 34.1°C at Charlwood
Monday 15th August - 32.1°C at RAF Coningsby (the heat hung on in the far east)

It looks like Eire recorded a new record maximum temperature for August of 32.2°C at Durrow (Co Laois), beating the old record of 31.5°C at Oak Park (Co Carlow) set on 2/8/1995.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Orion »

Sailors Encounter Massive Waterspout [37sec. video]
Massive Waterspout develops over Cornwall Coast.

Mark McCartney, a doctor who lives in Polruan, Cornwall, told the PA news agency:

“We were just heading out from Polruan as there seemed to be some sunshine offshore. When we looked back towards Fowey and Gribben Head we saw what looked like a cloud of smoke near the coast with a massive plume in the sky which we realised was a water spout or type of mini tornado. It was moving very slowly towards us and appeared to get much larger. We could see the Mevagissey Ferry near it, steaming away towards the harbour. It was all an amazing sight, remarkable.”
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

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That's gorgeous
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Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

Thanks for posting the waterspout video, Orion. It occurred on Monday (15th Aug) just off the Cornwall coast at Polruan, which is close to the town of Fowey. It was certainly very photogenic. Here is another nice video taken from the Mevagissey to Fowey Ferry - more pictures + videos on the tweet:

https://twitter.com/mevaferry/status/15 ... 5198687232

The weather turned much more unsettled form Monday, with areas of showers + thunderstorms over most of the UK. Some big rainfall totals were reported as the showers were slow moving and 'back building' occurred in some places. In the 24 hours to 6am on Wednesday (17th Aug), Holbeach, which is close to the Lincolnshire coast (on The Wash), recorded 146mm, with most of that falling in the final 12 hours of that period. We had a decent thunderstorm here in Tiverton on Monday and plenty of heavy rain on Tuesday - local gauges recorded 65-75mm between Mon-Weds this week.

With the ground hard + dry, there was quite a bit of local flooding as the rain had nowhere to go. Worksop in Nottinghamshire recorded 93mm in just 3 hours on Tuesday afternoon with the resulting flooding shown in this BBC piece:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-n ... e-62573082
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

After all the excitement of last weeks rain and storms, the weather has become much quieter over the UK - patchy rain and drizzle but with some sunshine thrown in. It has been rather humid at times and the SE is still temperatures in the mid twenties despite the return to the more normal air flow from the SW. It will become warmer again over the next couple of days and we could see 30°C again in the SE. The patchy rain will fade away, returning the UK to dry weather again. The Met Office longer range outlook suggests warm and dry weather into early and mid September, especially in the southern half of the UK.

The CET for August was 19.3°C (+3.6°C) up to the 20th and the EWR was 24mm up to the 21st which is just 29% of the monthly average of 82mm. Note that the record monthly CET for August is currently 19.1°C for 1995.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

After a couple of warm days on Tues/Weds, with the temperature just reaching 30°C in the east and south east of England, heavy thundery rain moved NE across the SE corner of England and gave a very wet spell of weather to London + East Anglia well lasting into Thursday. A number of sites recorded more than 50mm in less than 12 hours, which in some cases was more rain than they had had in the last 3 months.

https://twitter.com/danholley_/status/1 ... 9241355264

Despite this heavy rain, which only affected a relatively small area, much of the UK remains dry, and one of the consequences of the long period of below average rainfall we have been experiencing is that some reservoirs are nearly empty and the villages and structures flooded when they were first filled have re-appeared.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-y ... e-62677584

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-d ... e-62594802
Simon Culling
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The Scar House Reservoir, featured in one of the BBC articles linked in the last post above, was visited by a funnel cloud on Sunday, and it was seen by a number of people. It is visible on the bottom left photo of this cluster of four on the attached tweet.

https://twitter.com/penny_short/status/ ... 0353566720

Despite this, the weather has been quiet over the UK for the last few days of August with plenty of sunshine in the west and south. With high pressure to our NE, the wind has gone round to the east, and this has brought a little cloud and moisture to more eastern parts. As the high pressure retreats east, we will be looking to the Atlantic (as we head into Autumn) as fronts approach from the west.

The CET for August was 18.8°C (+3.1°C) up to the 29th - so just fallen below the record high for this month. The EWR was 37mm up to the 28th, which is 45% of the monthly average.
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Re: UK Weather - Summer 2022

Unread post by Simon Culling »

The final CET for August was 18.7°C (+2.9°C) and the final EWR was 38mm, which is just 46% of the monthly average. In terms of the CET, this August was the 3rd warmest in the series dating back to 1659. The hottest August was 1995 on 19.1°C.

Met Office report with a brief summary of August and a more detailed look at the summer as a whole. It was the joint hottest English summer (with 2018) in the full gridded temperature series that now dates back to 1884. For the UK as a whole, it is provisionally the 4th warmest summer in this record. It was also (as might be expected) sunnier and drier than normal.

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/p ... or-england
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