Hottest July
Although global warming is expected to give us increasingly warm months in the future we need to remember that not every month will be as warm as another. In particular if we start to expect hot summer months all the time we are likely to be either disappointed or pleased -depending on your viewpoint. This July doesn't look likely to be an especially hot month, certainly starting rather chilly for many and as such will be in complete contrast to last year.
July 2006 was the warmest such month since records begun in 1659 and the sunniest since records started in 1881. However, as well as being very warm and sunny it was also one of the twelve driest Julies in the past century.
The month started very warm indeed as southerly winds brought a continental flow up across the UK. Even on the 1st it reached 30.5C at Pershore (Worcs) and by the 2nd London's Heathrow Airport saw temperatures climb to 32.3C. The 3rd and 4th were again hot with 31.4C and 31.3C reported respectively at Heathrow; even further north 30C was reached locally in Manchester on the 5th. By the 6th the heat had moved further north as Aboyne in Aberdeenshire saw 27.5C reached. Temperatures were over 5C above average by the end of the first week.
The heat built up again after mid month. 36.5C was reported on the 19th at Wisley, Surrey, the highest temperature ever recorded in July and there were with fifteen days which recorded above 30C in the UK during the month; seven days consecutively above 30C reported from the 16th followed by four more from the 24th.
Despite it being such a dry month, both early and later in the month there were some significant storms though. From the 2nd-6th July there was a thundery period after the very hot start.On the afternoon of the 5th for example a report of about 125mm of rain falling in about an hour or so was received from Great Chesterfield (just off the M11 near Bishops Stortford) in Essex and 43mm in an hour nearby at Great Dunmow. Eye witness reports talked of large volumes of water lifting manhole covers off and spurting 3 ft in the air during the torrential rainstorm. In the evening parts of Worcester saw severe storms for a time when at least 70 homes were flooded and fire crews dealt with nearly 200 calls in a short period. There was a drier period until the 22nd when some quite severe thunderstorms sweep across parts of the south and east. Gusts over 60mph were reported in Lincolnshire as well as short term rainfall totals of about three inches in Oxfordshire. Further significant thunderstorms occured on the 25th-27th as well. These were confined to the south eastern quarter of the UK however and were generated by a very warm plume of moist air that clipped the area. On the 27th there were reports of hail and serious flooding from Milton Keynes, Weybridge, Woking and West London and air travel was severely affected at London's Heathrow and Stansted airports with long delays developing.
July 2006 was certainly a remarkable month that surpassed many other notably hot periods in the last few decades but we shouldnt expect a repeat this year!
