July was a rollercoaster ride of weather. It began wet before turning into a memorable heatwave that felt like a taste of a Mediterranean summer. Then it plunged headlong into autumn with thunderstorms, heaps of rain and chill winds.
Despite the cool spells, the blistering heatwave gave such an uplift to the month’s averages that it was the UK’S fifth warmest July on record. During that hot spell daytime temperatures reached 30C or more somewhere in the country for seven days running. The nights were so unusually hot that they sent the month’s average minimum temperature to 12.1C, equalling the second warmest nights recorded in July in the UK. Perhaps an even bigger surprise was how Northern Ireland broke its all-time temperature record three times in quick succession, ending with a new high of 31.3C on July 21.
To add to the unreality of July’s weather it was unusually dry and sunny in the Highlands and islands of western Scotland – places not usually noted for dry summers. In contrast it was southern England where there were grey skies, big thunderstorms and hefty downpours, with particularly spectacular deluges in the Isle of Wight and London. It was as if the usual pattern of British weather had been turned on its head.
In a fitting finale, July bowed out with more freakish weather when Storm Evert tore through southern England and Wales on July 30, flattening camp sites and leading to several sea rescues off the Isles of Scilly, mainly yachts finding themselves in trouble.
August has carried on cool and wet so far, with the jet stream marching across the Atlantic with a conveyor belt of depressions delivering more grey skies and rain. It is beginning to feel as if summer is already over. But there is a glimmer of hope that there could be one last upturn with drier and warmer weather later this month as high pressure edges in once more. Who knows, perhaps there may even be a decent August bank holiday.
