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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 571       For     JULY    2003
                   UNSETTLED EARLY AND LATE;  HOT SPELL SECOND WEEK
Text Box: A cool northwesterly type lasted until the 5th, followed by an anticyclonic spell from the 6th to the 15th. An unsettled south to southwesterly type controlled the weather during the second half of the month. Mean monthly pressure was below normal throughout the UK; the main anomaly centres were -8 mbar to the west of Ireland and +6 mbar in the Russian Arctic. A complex depression over England and Wales on the 1st moved into the North Sea the next day, and from then until the 5th a north to northwesterly airflow covered the British Isles with pressure slowly recovering. Eastern and central regions had outbreaks of showery rain with local thunder during the first three days, and it was generally cool here with a maximum of just 11.1°C at Fylingdales (N.Yorks) on the 3rd. Central and western Scotland, however, were warm and sunny for several days with highs of 22-25°C while Bishopton (Renfrewshire) recorded 16.1hr of sunshine on the 4th. Pressure was high over much of the UK from the 5th until the 13th although fronts preriodically affected the Northwest. On the 14th the anticyclone migrated to Scandinavia allowing an easterly airstream to develop for a while. It became increasingly warm and humid between the 5th and 10th with 29.5°C at Gravesend (Kent) on the latter date, but there was occasional rain in western and northern regions. A cold front brought a drop in both temperature and humidity on the 11th and 12th, but a notable heatwave followed from the 13th to the 16th, the temperature widely exceeding 30°C on four consecutive days; the highest reading to hand is 33.6°C at
Text Box: Wisley (Surrey) on the 15th, and this is the highest July maximum at any site in the UK since 1989. In Scotland 30.0°C was reached at Prestwick (Ayrshire), 26.2°C at Stornoway (W.Isles) and 23.5°C at Sella Ness (Shetland). Showers and thunderstorms broke out in Cornwall and in Northern Ireland on the 15th, and these became much more widespread during the next two days. Local downpours led to some flooding in Flintshire, Cumbria and Northern Ireland, while prolonged heavy rain overnight 16th/17th dropped 55mm on St Athan (Glamorgan). For the remainder of the month a changeable south to southwesterly type held sway, with Atlantic fronts crossing the country at frequent intervals. Most places continued rather warm, however, with maxima regularly between 22 and 25°C in southern, central and eastern regions, and 30°C was again reached on the 19th in Kent and East Anglia. However, all parts of the country had rain periodically, and it was very heavy on the 24th/25th when 40-60mm fell in southwest England and Wales with consequent flooding. Cardinham (Cornwall) recorded 64mm. The 29th was also very wet with 42mm at Aspatria (Cumbria). The provisional Central England Temperature for July was 17.6°C, the highest since 1999 and the twelfth highest in the last 100 years. June and July together were beaten only by 1983 and 1976 in the same period. Rainfall was well below normal in some eastern regions, notably in northeast Scotland where several sites collected less than 25 per cent of the normal amount, but parts of Cornwall and Pembrokeshire had more than twice the long-term mean.
                                                                                                                                           
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL        
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                   
                                          Highest and lowest totals                     Highest and lowest totals        
                                              on record for month