I’m running out of superlatives for this summer. There has already been 15 days where the temperature has reached or exceeded 30C, two more than 1976!
However, the mean temperature has not been as intense as that classic summer where two heatwaves of five days and four days length were featured during the season. This summer has so far only seen one similar heatwave of 5 days length.
I’ve put together a few top 10s of stats for Wanstead, St James’s Park and Heathrow for the month of August.
Some national UK August values according to TORRO
Hottest: 38.5C Brogdale, near Faversham, Kent – 10th 2003
Coldest: -4.5C Lagganlia, Highland – 21st 1973
Wettest: 238.8 Cannington, Somerset – 18th 1924
In terms of climatology August maxima, considering the 1981-2010 average, shows a fairly steady decrease through the month, though around the 15th there is often a spike before a steady decrease to month’s end. This would reflect the late August winds singularity which occurs every year around the 20th at 67 per cent probability.
The average rainfall graphic shows that downpour amounts are fairly random from year to year. The driest days are the 15th and the 30th.
