Author: Eric Gilbert

The barometric pressure has been rising over the last twenty-four hours as a limited ridge of high pressure builds over the UK. This will result in more sunshine and dry days over the weekend. The south-westerly winds yesterday brought sunshine and average temperatures, with just a sprinkle of rainfall mid-afternoon. The UV levels are slipping back from Very High to High as we lose the intensity of the sunshine a month or more after the longest day.

After two very wet days yesterday brought 3 hours of strong sunshine, 11.5 hours of indirect sunshine and a maximum of 22.1C, which is almost 2C above the average for early August. Another mild night with a minimum of 13.8C, also above average. Just after dawn this morning a narrow band of light drizzle arrived from the west bringing just 0.2mm of precipitation.

Tuesday was a depressing day with bands of heavy drizzle passing through frequently resulting in high humidity. The precipitation total was minimal at 2.2mm. It was a very warm night with a minimum of 15.4C but just after 5am the cloud started to break up and the thermometer to drop.This morning at 05.03 there was a very strong gust of wind peaking at 26mph. After a relatively calm July this was the highest gust of wind for six weeks.

The fourteen hours of rainfall yesterday, starting late afternoon, amounted to 20.5mm. This is not far short of the rainfall for the whole of July.

Summary for July 2016
July was memorable for the minimal rainfall. Although there were only eighteen totally dry days, there many days with the occasional light shower. The total precipitation amounted to 23.7mm when the mean is 61.0mm, which is the fourth driest July since this station started in 1984. The wettest day occurred on the 28th with 7.3mm that is almost one third of the month’s rainfall in one day.

The driest July was in 1999 with just 10.1mm of rainfall, the previous very dry months were in 1994 and 1984. In the past there have been many very wet July months, the record being set in 2007 with 127.2mm.

There has been a rising trend for heavier rainfall since the year 2000, which has levelled out in recent years.

The evaporation from the ground, water sources and plant life for the month was 96.3mm giving a deficit of equivalent rainfall of almost 73mm. No wonder my six water buts ran dry looking after the greenhouse, fishpond and many flower planters. Following the below average rainfall in June, this makes the deficit for the combined months of almost 93mm.

It was not a July to remember as a prolonged hot month. The mean temperature was 0.5C above the log-term mean principally due to the night temperatures being 0.4C above the average. There was a very warm, even hot spell, around the middle of the month when the thermometer soared to 31.7C on the 19th with several days just before and after in the high 20s. The record was set in 2006 with a high of 34.9C.

The solar energy for the month was close to the average helped by 111 hours of strong sunshine.

The UV levels were consistently in the Very High category on 28 days in the month. The gloomiest day occurred on the 28th with a Moderate rating due to the cloud cover, which produced the wettest day.

Fog occurred during the early morning of the 18th with visibility down to 100m.

The total rainfall for July was 23.7mm, which is only 39% of the monthly mean or 37mm less. It was the fourth driest month since the station started in 1984. Another 6 hours of strong sunshine boosted the maximum to 21.9C yesterday. Before the cloud cover moved in during the early hours the thermometer dropped to a chilly 8.2C but by 08.00 had recovered to 12.7C.