Category: News

Wednesday 4th brought hours of rain, some very heavy, totalling 10.8mm. As a result of the rain and cloud cover temperatures were depressed only reaching a maximum of 12.2C, some 8C below the mean for June. Direct sunshine was limited to just 0.75 of an hour, later in the day.

MAY
The weather in May came in three distinct parts. The first ten days were wet commencing with the wettest day of the month on the 1st with 16.3mm. From the 11th to the 19th temperatures rose into the twenties with a high of 25.4C on the 19th and very little rain. There were five consecutive dry days. However, from the 20th low pressure settled over the UK bringing unsettled weather with much rain and depressed temperatures. The thermometer struggled to reach 13.1C on the 28th and 13.4C on the 23rd when the mean is 17.3C.

The total rainfall was 105.5mm, which is 181% of the 30-year average or an extra 47.2mm. There were only twelve dry days. The number of wet days, which are classed as daily precipitation equal to or more than 1mm, also totalled twelve. It is interesting to see that over the past thirty years the trend for the number of wet days in May has been rising from around eight in the 1980s to eleven, on average, in recent years.

The mean temperature for May was 0.47C above the 30-year average. The daytime mean was almost equal to the long-term average but nighttime temperatures were +0.8C. There was just one air frost when the thermometer briefly dropped to -1C just before dawn on the 3rd. It is notable that May was the sixth successive month with an above average mean temperature.

Hail fell on the 6th, a misty start occurred on the 16th and 17th, thick fog greeted the morning of the 21st and a clap of thunder was heard on the 22nd.

SPRING
The total rainfall for the three months was 230mm, which is 130% of the 30-year average or +53mm. The record high spring rainfall was in the year 2000 when 279mm fell that contrasts markedly with just 65mm in 2011.

The mean temperature was 0.9C above the 30-year average being the fourth warmest after 2011, 2007 and fractionally below the mean in 1999. Thankfully, spring 2014 was 3C above the mean for 2013.

After the appalling weather on Wednesday, when anther 8.1mm of rainfall was recorded, it brought the total today to 105.5mm, 181% of the 30-year average and 47mm above this average. This makes it the third wettest May I have recorded since 1984.
The solar energy on wednesday was the lowest for well over a month and not surprisingly, the UV level was rated at ‘Low’ when most days this month have been in the ‘High’ category and ‘Very High’ n the 15th and 25th.

We have had only ten dry days in May and with the recent precipitation the total for the month is now 96.7mm, which is 166% of the long-term average or plus 38mm and with four more days before the end of the month. The record for May was set in 2007 with a grand total of 149.5mm but 2006 was not a great deal drier with 117.3mm, which is more than double the average.
The last two days have registered between them less than one hour of direct sunshine so it is not surprising that the maxima have been several degrees below the average for May.

The first dry day after a week of rain also provided the greatest number of global hours of sunshine, a total of 13.0 hours. The UV rating nudged into the ‘Very High’ group. The subsequent night was marked by very low temperatures, dropping to just 3.4C, in the early hours (03.45) before cloud moved in.
The May rainfall now totals 88.5mm, which is 152% of the 30-year average and the sixth wettest on record.