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graphs      CLIMATE-UK.COM'S  REVIEW  OF  THE  BRITISH  METEOROLOGICAL  SCENE
     MONTHLY  SUMMARY
     No. 572 For   AUGUST   2003
                     DRY AND SUNNY.   RECORD-BREAKING HEATWAVE.
Text Box: High pressure developed over the UK during the first few days and persisted with only brief interruptions until the 27th. The month ended with a northerly type in occupation. Mean sea-level pressure anomaly ranged from +5 mbar over western Scotland to +2 mbar in Sussex and Kent. On the 1st a slow-moving cold front brought thick cloud and drizzly rain to East Anglia and southern England, but there were sunny spells elsewhere and it was generally rather warm. A developing anticyclone then settled over the British Isles where it remained for two weeks, bringing mainly sunny and hot weather to all regions although there were scattered thunderstorms on the 4th-6th and 10th-11th. Overnight 4th/5th, 93mm fell in 10 hours on Colonsay in the Hebrides, while a remarkable fall of 49mm in 15 minutes occurred at Carlton-in-Cleveland, North Yorkshire, on the morning of the 10th. The temperature exceeded 30șC daily from the 3rd to the 12th, and reached 35șC or more on the 5th, 6th, 9th and 10th. A maximum of 36.4șC was recorded at Gravesend, Kent, on the 6th, and at Enfield (a rooftop site), north London, on the 9th, but the hottest day of all was the 10th when 38.1șC was reported from Kew Gardens and Gravesend, a new UK record for any month. In Scotland a maximum of 32.9șC was logged at Greycrook in the Borders on the 9th, a new Scottish record. There were some exceptionally high night minima, too, including 23.7șC at Guernsey airport on 4th/5th. According to government sources, the heatwave was responsible for almost 1000 deaths during the first half of August.
Text Box: It gradually turned cooler between the 11th and 14th and it was windy over Scotland overnight 13th/14th, but most central and eastern districts remained bright and warm. The weather became rather changeable between the 18th and 22nd especially in Scotland and Northern Ireland where it was wet and windy at times, but amounts of rain in southern, central and eastern England were derisory or non-existent. A new anticyclone developed over the UK on the 23rd and 24th, renewing the sunny and very warm weather, but this high quickly transferred to the Iceland area allowing much cooler and cloudier northerly winds to spread to the whole country during the next few days. Rain fell widely on the 28th and 29th although parts of East Anglia and the south-east Midlands had very little, and the afternoon maximum at Buxton, Derbyshire, on the 29th was just 11șC. The month ended with two fair but cool days and ground frost occurred widely at night. The provisional Central England Temperature of 18.3șC placed this August in 5th place in the 344-year long record; interestingly the other four all occurred in the last 60 years. Averaged over England and Wales it was the fourth driest August in the last 100 years, after 1995, 1947 and 1940, and it also ranked the ninth sunniest. Just 0.7mm of rain fell during the entire month at Royston, Herts. The summer quarter’s CET of 17.3șC put it in fourth place after 1976, 1995 and 1826, but seasonal rainfall and sunshine figures were less remarkable.
                                                                                                                                         
                       TEMPERATURE                                SUNSHINE                             RAINFALL                                                       
                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                 
                   
No. of days with grass minimum below 0șC
                      Highest and lowest totals    
Maximum fall in 24 hrs (beginning 09 h)
                Highest and lowest totals    
Days with snow or sleet
 
Days with fog (Vis <220 yards at 09 h)
 
     
Difference from average
   
Difference from average
             
Days of no sunshine
                      on record for month                         on record for month        
                                                                                         
           
Highest maximum
   
Lowest minimum
         
Maximum duration
       
First year of record
         
Days of no rainfall (0.1 mm or less)
         
First year of record
         
Days with thunder
     
       PLACE  
Mean Maximum
   
Mean minimum
             
No. of air frosts
       
Total for month
                   
Total for month
                   
                               
% of average
                   
% of average
                 
                                                                     
                                   
Highest
   
Lowest
 
Year
             
Highest
   
Lowest
 
Year
       
             
Date
   
Date
         
Date
         
Year <